Forgiveness
by snpro2000
Summary: SASUSAKU - Set shortly after The Last. Sasuke has come back to the village. His friends have forgiven him, but he can't forgive himself for what he has done. Especially what he's done to Sakura. Someone from their past comes back to haunt them and it just makes Sasuke struggle even more.
1. Return

**Author's Note: **This is my very first fanfiction! I have had an idea that I've wanted to use for Sasuke and Sakura ever since the manga ended and when I read The Last spoilers. P.S. I'm not the only one who is upset that they only had NaruHina, right? Anyway, please enjoy!

* * *

He was standing on top of the Hokage monument. It hadn't been long side he had destroyed the meteor that had been heading towards the village of Konohagakure, his home. He had seen his old sensei that day, but he hadn't seen his other friends in almost three years.

It was about 9:00 p.m. The last surviving Uchiha jumped off the monument, landing softly on the ground, and began jumping rooftop to rooftop at a blinding speed. The Uchiha was heading straight for the Hokage's office. On his way, he wondered how his friends had been, how _she _had been. He had made her a promise three years ago.

"_I'll see you when I get back," he said after poking her forehead and watching her_ blush_ furiously._

The way she blushed when he had poked her annoyed, but amused him. _"She is so annoying," _he thought to himself while smirking. He then frowned, remembering how easily his friends had forgiven him for all he had done. He didn't deserve forgiveness for any of it, especially hers. They had forgiven him, but he still could not forgive himself. After almost three years of trying to, he was still struggling with it. Every night he had gone to sleep, only to awaken in a cold sweat after remembering his right hand grasped tightly around her throat. After he had woken up, he then remembered the rest of it. Pulling the kunai knife from her hand and slashing towards her throat. Just in time, his best friend had saved her from being killed by him.

_"To close," _he said to himself as he reached the office. _"To close"._

* * *

Kakashi Hatake, the sixth Hokage, sat in his office reading "Icha Icha Paradise" for perhaps the millionth time. He could never get tired of the series no matter how many times he had read it.

There hadn't been anything unusual happening in the village lately, just the usual missions and mission reports. In fact, it had been a little boring to the Hatake. He didn't get to see his former students much and normally just stayed in his office all day. He also sort of missed seeing the other kids from his students' age group. _"It's weird to think some of them are married or engaged," _he thought to himself.

He was then brought out of his thoughts by a knock on the office door.

* * *

Sakura Haruno was in her office at the hospital, trying desperately not to fall asleep. She hadn't gone home once in the past two days. The hospital hadn't been this busy in a long time. Not since the Fourth Great Ninja War three years ago. She had just about fallen asleep when two of the other members of Team 7 rammed through the door.

"What's up Sakura?!" Naruto Uzumaki shouted as loudly as possible, scaring his former crush halfway to the moon. The next instant, Naruto ended up on the floor in the hallway after a chakra filled punch from Sakura. Sai was smiling mindlessly beside her, looking down at their barely conscious teammate.

"What do you want Naruto, I'm busy!?" She angrily asked him.

"He wanted to ask if you would like to join us, Hinata, and Ino for dinner tonight," Sai said while laughing.

"I have to work so it's a no," she said while helping Naruto up, "And sorry Naruto, you just scared me is all".

"It's okay Sakura," Naruto groggily said, "And maybe some other time".

As they walked out of her office, she was wishing she could go with them and get out of this stupid hospital. She would love to catch up with Hinata Hyuga, or now Hinata Uzumaki, and her best friend Ino Yamanaka, who was currently dating Sai.

Sighing, she sat back down and continued with her paperwork in huge stacks on her desk. She wouldn't get to sleep for another three hours at least.

* * *

He entered the room after the Hokage told him to enter.

A gasp escaped from his former sensei at the sight of him. "Sasuke!" He exclaimed.

"Kakashi," he calmly said, staring at him, "I didn't think you liked the idea of being Hokage."

Kakashi, who seemed to be over his shock, chuckled, "Well, someone had to do the job after Lady Tsunade resigned. Sometimes I think she did it just to spite me."

The Hatake gave a smile behind his mask. He hadn't really ever shown his face to anyone, not even his former students, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. The old Team 7.

"So what brings you here Sasuke Uchiha?" Kakashi asked. "It's been a while since we've talked. Almost three years."

"Hn," the classic Sasuke answer, "I just think that I'm ready to come back."

"Well, that's good news. We've all missed you, especially Naruto and Sakura."

The Uchiha was quiet after this. _"So I guess I do still have friends," _he thought to himself.

"And I don't wanna sound nosy for asking, but should we get that out of the way?" Kakashi asked pointing to where Sasuke's left arm used to be, now just a stump.

Sasuke had nearly forgotten about the arms Tsunade had made for him and Naruto after there last battle. He had learned to live with just his right arm in the past few years. Over those years in battle, all he had needed were his Sharingan, Rinnegan, and the blade on his back. He had refused to get it put back on before he left the last time. Naruto had his right arm replaced. He remembered the impact that had blown off their arms, and frowned.

"I guess I should get it back, if I'm going to be at my best," the Uchiha replied.

"Just the answer I'd expect from you," the Hokage said replying to the last part of his answer, "I'll call for Lady Tsunade."

"Wait, now?"

"Why not?"

Sasuke had had been hoping to see Sakura and catch up. He was to tired to talk to the very energetic Uzumaki tonight. And he didn't want to sleep at the dobe's house either. He'd never get to sleep without Naruto asking him a million questions.

"Hn, fine," Sasuke said.

While Sasuke was getting his new arm, he wondered about how much everyone had changed while he was gone. Kakashi hadn't changed at all, except now he had the role of Hokage. His former sensei still had his messy grey hair, the mask, and read those perverted books of his. The last time he had seen his best friend, Naruto, he wore his black and orange jumpsuit and had spiky yellow hair. When he had last seen Sakura, the pink headed kunoichi's hair had been near shoulder length, she had also had a purple diamond in the middle of her forehead from learning some medical kind of jutsu. He then remembered how she had become a medic, and how powerful just one of her chakra filled punches can be. He gave a small smile when he thought about her at that moment.

After it was done and Tsunade left, Sasuke looked at his new arm and moved it around. It felt really weird to have two arms to look at, too. He remembered the painful process of putting it on, how Tsunade had not bothered to be gentle at all. He had then remembered her words after she was done.

_"If you even look at her the wrong way and I find out," she paused, and Sasuke figured she was talking about her former student when she had trained to become a medical ninja, Sakura,"You won't live for long afterwards."_

He would not dare hurt Sakura, much less cross the former Hokage. He turned and walked to the door, hoping that now he could go and rest.

"I'll tell everyone your back tonight I guess," Kakashi said, freezing Sasuke in his tracks.

"No, not tonight!" Sasuke said a little to loudly.

Kakashi had been surprised that Sasuke had raised his voice. He was also surprised that he had said no.

"Not tonight, because I need to talk to someone and I don't want everyone there annoying me." Sasuke had started to turn the knob when Kakashi had started to speak again.

"Don't you want her address? Or to know that she doesn't get off of work for another hour?" Kakashi said, clearly amused.

The Uchiha was annoyed that he had known who he was talking about almost immediately. He turned around. "Hn, it'd be good to know."

After he had gotten the information, he went by rooftop towards her apartment, not wanting to be seen by anyone else.

* * *

It was 1:00 a.m. "She's still not home," he said to himself, clearly annoyed. He decided that since it was late, he could walk through the streets to the hospital. He opened the door and remembered how easily he had gotten in. _"She really should lock her doors," _he thought to himself, smirking. He then slowly started walking towards the hospital.

* * *

Sakura had just woken up and looked at the clock. It was 1:00 a.m. "Crap," she muttered. "Wait, what am I worried about? It's not like there's anyone there waiting for me."

She had just gotten out of the hospital and was still hopelessly tired. She struggled to keep her eyes open while she was walking. "Ugh... I really need a vacation," she sighed. She stopped. She thought someone was watching her or even following her. Sakura quickly shook that feeling away though. _"Must be my imagination," _she thought.

About halfway home, she had that feeling again. Then she heard a whooshing sound and knew there was someone about ten feet behind her. "You have three seconds to-" She couldn't finish because she was so shocked at who the man in front of her was. She rubbed her eyes, thinking that it was just her imagination playing a trick on her. But the image did not disappear.

"Sasuke..."

"Sakura..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So what did you guys think of the first chapter? If you leave a bad review then please remember it's my first fanfic ever. Go easy on me, lol. I felt I needed Tsunade to sort of intimidate Sasuke because Sakura is like a daughter to her. More characters will come in later chapters. Excuse my awful grammar to. Please review! Thanks for reading!


	2. Friends?

**Author's Note: **Thanks so much for the reviews everyone! Honestly, I didn't expect many people to like my story. Thanks also for the follows I got, and the guests who will keep up with this story, too. Here's chapter two!

* * *

They were both just standing there and staring at each other, the onyx eyes meeting emerald, looking to see how much the other had changed.

Sasuke had noticed that Sakura had just gotten even more attractive than when he had last seen her. Her pink hair ending a little below her chin, slightly curving in. She was wearing the same shade of red she always wore. Her shorts came down about halfway between her thighs and knees. That small purple diamond still on her forehead, and he also noted that she had gotten a little taller, too. His gaze ended right back where it had started, her emerald eyes.

Sakura still could not believe that the boy she had loved for over ten years was standing right in front of her again. In the last few months, she had almost begun to give up hope that he would ever come back. However, she had pushed the thought out of her mind every time it would come. She had refused to give up hope. She hadn't done it when he left the first time, and she wouldn't do it now. It had been different this time though.

Sakura then started to look and see how much Sasuke had changed. His raven hair had gotten longer and didn't stick out as much as it had. His bangs were covering his left eye, the purple Rinnegan. His right eye was the one that he uses for his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, but his onyx eye was normal at the moment. He was wearing a long sleeve shirt, black of course. On top of his shirt, he had a small sort of vest, grey in color, with the Uchiha clan symbol printed on the right side of the vest, his blade attached to the back. His pants were baggy, and ended at the top of his sandals. She also noticed that his left arm was back. Probably recently. _"He seems to only get more attractive as time goes on," _Sakura thought to herself as she again met his gaze.

"Sakura," he began, " I-," he didn't have time to finish because she had appeared in front of him and punched him in the stomach. He collapsed to his hands and knees, the breath knocked out of him. He had been surprised by her sudden attack and didn't have time to block it. Luckily, it was a normal punch and not one filled with chakra. "What was that for?" he squeaked out as she helped him up.

"Just checking to see if you were real," she said casually. She then punched him hard on his cheek, knocking him down about five feet away from where he used to stand.

He watched the blood run from his cheek to the ground in small puddles in front of him. "What was THAT for?" He asked from the ground. That punch had been chakra filled.

"That," she paused, walking over towards him,"Was for leaving for another three years."

She then extended her hand, which he reluctantly took, afraid she might put him in the hospital with another hit. This time, however, he had gotten ready to block.

"Relax, I'm done now," she told him as she saw his cautious stare. Her right hand began to glow green as she reached toward his cheek.

He knew he could relax now because of that green glow. She was going to heal him with her healing chakra. The sensation of her hand on his cheek made him feel electricity shoot through his whole body. He didn't want that feeling to go away. _"What is it about her that always makes me feel like this?" _He asked himself silently. Whenever he had been around her, saw her, thought of her, or when they had touched the last time they had seen each other, he had felt like this.

After she was done, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. "I missed you, you stupid jerk," she told him.

He then wrapped both of his arms around her, hugging her back. It was the first time he had ever hugged her back, and it was also the first time in who knows how long that he had hugged anyone. "Hn, I guess I missed you too, you _annoying _fangirl," he said, putting as much emphasis on the word "annoying" as possible.

They then broke apart and glanced at each other before staring at the ground. "Does anyone else know you're here?"

"Only Kakashi. I don't want to be attacked by Naruto tonight," he replied.

"Oh, so I guess that means you don't have a place to stay?" She asked, embarrassed.

"No, I guess not."

"You can stay at my apartment if you want," she said with a small blush.

"Hn, sure. You're apartment is pretty nice anyway," he replied, waiting to see her flustered expression.

Sure enough, she looked flustered right after that came out of his mouth. "Wait, when did you-"

"Kakashi told me where it was," he interrupted with a stoic expression on his face. However, the stoic look quickly turned into a smirk,"I waited there for two hours," he said, annoyance in his voice. "And you should really lock your door, too."

They started walking towards the apartment as she answered back. "Yes mother," she said sarcastically. "Why do you care anyway?"

"Hn," he shrugged.

"Sorry I made you worry, I fell asleep on my desk. I've been at work for two days straight now," she said, the exhausted feeling coming back to her.

"I noticed you looked half dead," he said coolly. "And I wasn't worried, just concerned," he added, defending himself.

_"Whatever you say," _she thought to herself. "You don't have to worry about Naruto as much anymore," she said aloud. "He's married."

This had clearly taken Sasuke by surprise. "Married?! To who?!" _"Naruto Uzumaki, the most immature human being I have ever met, IS MARRIED?!" _He then remembered the days before they had become genin. Almost every day his future best friend would get into some sort of trouble. Most of the time, Naruto would have to stand in front of the class and write on the board at least fifty times, "The middle finger is not a ninja hand sign."

"He's married to-," she had paused to take a huge yawn.

_"Wait a minute," _Sasuke inwardly thought, _"Naruto has always had a crush on Sakura..." _His eyes widened slightly at the realization. He then nervously glanced at her left side, trying to see if she had a ring on her left hand. _"No way! She's always liked me! No way she would marry that idiot!"_

"He's married to Hinata Hyuga. You remember her, don't you?" Sakura said, interrupting his thoughts.

A small frown had settled on his face. Relief slowly flooded his system. _"What was I thinking? She's always liked me. Why would she ever marry him? She's always thought of him as a close friend and nothing else. Am I... Am I, jealous?" _He began inwardly cursing himself for his last thought.

Sakura had started to stare at him after noticing his expression. She then gave him a questioning look.

Sasuke had stopped cursing himself and had noticed her look. He quickly changed his expression to look like a stoic one. "Ya, isn't she Neji Hyuga's cousin?"

"Ya. Was," she answered back.

A sad look had crossed both of their faces. Neji Hyuga had died fighting in the Fourth Great Ninja War.

Sakura vividly remembered watching him bravely sacrifice himself.

* * *

_The gigantic wooden shards that Obito, Madara, and the Ten Tails had shot came straight for them. The Allied Shinobi Forces were trying to cover themselves in any way possible. Sakura had pulled up a huge chunk of the earth, shielding her and some others from being hit. She looked over in terror to see Naruto lying on the ground. He had just noticed the shards coming for him. He didn't have time to move. Then, Hinata Hyuga jumped in front of him, got down on her knees very close to him, facing him, her arms held out protectively in front of him. Before the shards had connected with her however, her cousin had taken the hit and fallen to the ground. Four gigantic shards were sticking out of his chest. Naruto had picked him up and Neji's head sat on his shoulder. Blood dripping from Neji's mouth and chest, he was looking at Hinata._

_"Why did you do that for me?" Naruto asked him, tears threatening to spill from his eyes._

_"Because, you once called me a genius," Neji replied, smiling._

_Hinata stared at Neji, tears pouring from her eyes._

_"Remember, Naruto, that you hold more than one life in your hands," he said, looking at Hinata. The curse mark on his forehead started to fade. "Lady Hinata is willing to give her life for you." The mark had fully disappeared from his head, and Naruto had laid him down on the ground and began to cry. Neji Hyuga was dead._

* * *

Sakura could not bear to watch the memory any longer, and began to stare straight ahead.

This was a regret that Sasuke could never fix. Neji Hyuga had died right before Sasuke had shown up on the battlefield to help. He had never talked to Neji much, in fact he never really liked him; but, after hearing how Neji had been on the mission to save him and almost died in the process, he had felt a change of heart. Then he heard the details about how he had sacrificed himself in battle for Naruto and Hinata. He had heard all of this while he was in the hospital after the fight with Naruto. At that moment he felt a small pang of regret. He would never get to ask for Neji Hyuga's forgiveness.

They had reached the apartment building and walked up to the top floor. They both wanted to get off the subject of the deceased Hyuga, so they turned the conversation back to Naruto and Hinata's marriage.

"So that little idiot is married," Sasuke said, smirking.

Sakura gave a small laugh. "They're the first ones from our age group to be married."

They walked into her apartment, Sasuke locking the door behind them.

"Look, I'd love to stay up and catch up with you, but I'm about to pass out. So, just help yourself to any food you find. You can take a shower or just do whatever. Good night," she quickly said before going in her room and collapsing on the bed.

_"She must be really tired if she doesn't want to stay up and talk to me," _he thought to himself, smirking. He then headed over to the small kitchen space and looked for food. He hadn't eaten since that morning. Something red caught his eye, tomatoes. Sasuke Uchiha for some reason had somewhat of an obsession with tomatoes. He hadn't eaten any for about four months and he immediately grabbed three of them. After he had prepared them, he practically inhaled all three of them.

He then went to sit at the end of Sakura's bed, watching her sleep. He didn't know why, but it felt like he needed to come in their and watch her. He moved to the side of her bed so he could see her more clearly. _"She looks so peaceful," _he thought. He then noticed how beautiful she really looked to him. While he stared, he didn't notice his right hand reaching out to touch her cheek. When he noticed, he had almost touched her when a memory flashed before his eyes.

_His hand was around her throat, squeezing the life out of her. His vision blurred from overusing his Sharingan, blood dripping from his left eye, sliding down his cheek. He reached for her hand and pulled the poisoned kunai knife from her grip. He then swiped towards her._

He quickly pulled his hand back and crawled out of her room. He stood up and grabbed a chair to hang onto in the living room. He was breathing heavily, his vision blurry. He tried quickly walking to the couch but didn't make it in time. Collapsing to his hands and knees, Sasuke put his forehead on the ground and closed his eyes.

_Kakashi could not make it in time. He was slow from using the Sharingan. Naruto Uzumaki, quick as a flash, had saved her just in time. He had pulled her away from him and had set her down where Kakashi was. All three of them now looking at him, a horrified expression on their faces._

_"I don't even recognize you anymore," Naruto said, a pained expression on his face._

Sasuke discarded the last part of the memory for now. "Thank you Naruto," he whispered, eyes still closed. When he finally opened his eyes, he slowly looked up at the clock. It was 2:00 a.m. He got up slowly and decided to go to sleep.

* * *

_"The truth is," Sakura paused,"I've always known in my heart, there was nothing I could have done for you. BUT I LOVE YOU!"_

_This froze Sasuke in his tracks._

_"No matter what's happened," she continued,"I still care about you more than I can bear..."_

_Sasuke tilted his head to the right, still not facing them._

_"If I could have taken all your pain onto myself to comfort you, I would have..."_

_She kept going," And here we are again, and still all I can do is set here and cry. I'M SO PATHETIC!"_

_Naruto and Kakashi looked on in silence. Both of them had a look of sadness and worry on their faces. Sasuke then told Naruto to go with him so they can have their death battle. _

_"Sasuke wait!" Kakashi called, then collapsed. Sakura knelt beside him and looked back at Sasuke, an angry look forming on her face. She then started to cry again._

_"But, Sasuke... If I still have a place in your heart, even if it's just a little... PLEASE DONT GO!" She had paused again. "If we're together again... I'm sure we'd be able to go back to those days..."_

_Kakashi looked at her with a look that defined sorrow._

_Sasuke had turned to his left to look at her with the Rinnegan. He smirked. "You're... such an annoyance."_

_The next instant he was right in front of her, the lightning in his hand shining brightly. Then he ripped his hand through her heart with Chidori. She fell to the ground in an instant after he pulled his hand back out._

* * *

Sasuke woke up on the couch, a cold sweat drenching his entire body. He was glad he had put his sword on the floor beside the other end of the couch. If it had been next to him, he probably would've ended up stabbing himself. He sat up and put his elbows on his knees, his hands running through his hair, his gaze looking at the floor. He then closed his eyes and remembered the rest of what happened.

_Naruto was angrily screaming at Sasuke,"WHAT THE HECK!? YOU DIDN'T NEED TO CAST THE GENJUTSU ON SAKURA!"_

"Genjutsu," he said to himself. He had momentarily forgotten that he had used Genjutsu on her. "It was just an illusion that she could see," he said, trying to calm himself down. His thoughts then drifted back to the memory.

_"Well, she'd just come after us. Saves us the trouble," Sasuke replied emotionlessly._

_Kakashi had lifted his gaze from Sakura to Sasuke. A sad and angry look visible in his eyes. "Sakura," he began,"Sakura really wanted to save you. This whole time..." _

_Sasuke interrupted and replied with a harsh tone,"What, was she having fun daydreaming about love? I don't see what she likes about me and honestly, I'm not interested in her at all."_

_"The only time you need a reason is when you hate somebody! Didn't she just say that she wanted you by her side!" Kakashi yelled back. "She wants to save you, there's nothing more to it! This girl here, who nearly lost her life to you... She still cries whenever she thinks of you... AND THE ONLY REASON WAS BECAUSE SHE LOVED YOU SO MUCH THAT IT HURT!"_

Sasuke could not bear to think about the memory anymore. She really had loved him that much. He knew that now. The way he felt about her now was different than any other time. He couldn't describe it in any other word but different. It was a foreign feeling that he hadn't felt in years. He looked up at the clock. It was 5:30 a.m.

_"The way I feel... Do I... Do I lo- NO! I can't. Not now. I like her as my friend. I can't rush to conclusions." _He was right. He couldn't rush to conclusions about the way he felt. He needed time to think. He hadn't even been back in the village for a day. _"What am I doing?! I shouldn't even be thinking like this!" _

He turned to look back towards her bedroom door, a frown on his face.

A sickening thought crossed his mind. Something he had begun to worry about. He then wondered to himself, _"Does she__ even feel the same way she used to..."_

* * *

**Author's Note: **I tried making this chapter longer. I tried to describe how they looked from descriptions of The Last or art I've seen so sorry if it seems a little off. I included the memory of Neji's death because I wanted to show how Sasuke felt about not getting the chance to apologize. Next chapter will include Naruto and Sasuke's "reunion". I don't know how long it will be for chapter three. Haven't gotten all the details worked out yet. Hope you enjoyed! Please review! Thanks for reading!


	3. Team 7 Reunion

**Author's Note:** I really appreciate all the follows and reviews you guys give me. It really helps me gain confidence in my writing. Anyway thank you so much you guys! Here's chapter three!

* * *

Sakura sat up in bed and looked at the clock. 6:00 a.m. She was still extremely tired. _"Maybe I should just go back to sleep. It's my off day anyway,"_ she thought. Her head had almost touched the pillow again when suddenly, there was a noise coming from the kitchen. Then she remembered what had happened the previous night. She was no longer tired and quickly got up to see what the Uchiha was doing. She found him eating two tomatoes at the table.

"Morning," Sakura said as Sasuke turned his attention to her.

"Hn," the Uchiha replied in between bites. "Sleep well?" He casually asked.

"Ya, what about you?" She replied.

He didn't answer. He was looking at the floor and seemed to have a sad expression on his face which Sakura noticed almost immediately.

"Are you all right?" she asked with a concerned look.

Sasuke looked back up at her with an annoyed expression. "Don't worry about it," he replied harshly. The next instant though, he apologized. "Sorry, I'm just stressed that's all."

Sakura didn't bother to ask him why, knowing it would only make him even more annoyed. Instead, she changed the topic to something that would lighten the mood. "Thanks for eating all my tomatoes, pig."

"Hn," he smirked,"You said help yourself. I made you breakfast, too." He pointed over toward the other end of the table. Sure enough there was freshly cooked food and a drink sitting there. She had been shocked by the Uchiha's actions but she ate it anyway. Sasuke Uchiha had never really done anything nice for anyone, so he wasn't surprised by the look on her face.

"You know sometimes I can show human emotions," he said, still smirking.

"That's not what I'm really surprised about," she replied. After Sasuke had raised an eyebrow, she started to smile at the floor. "What I'm really shocked about is that you know how to cook."

Sasuke crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. When he saw her smile at him though, he could not help himself. He gave her a small but quick smile back. As small and quick as it was, she had still noticed it which made Sasuke immediately regret his actions.

"Pinch me I'm dreaming," she said, barely loud enough for him to hear. She made sure he had heard the next part though. "You, Sasuke Uchiha, just smiled?!"

"Hmph," he pouted, turning his head to hide the furious red that had appeared on his face.

When they both looked back at each other, their eyes met and neither one of them bothered to look away. They both seemed to be in some sort of trance by the other's appearance. They were then interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

Sakura walked over to the door and gave Sasuke an annoyed glance when she figured out he had locked it. He stood up from the table as she was about to open it. Before she could fully open the door, the person who had knocked flew past her, heading towards Sasuke.

"SASUKE!" Naruto Uzumaki shouted as he jumped on the Uchiha's back, putting a choke hold on him. Sasuke, trying to regain his balance, stumbled all over the room weaving in between furniture.

"GET OFF ME NARUTO, YOU STUPID IDIOT!" Sasuke shouted back as he was trying to get out of the choke hold Naruto had him in.

"NARUTO, I WILL SEND YOU TO THE SAND VILLAGE IF YOU BREAK ANYTHING!" Sakura screamed as she slammed the door shut.

Naruto had immediately let go of Sasuke and quickly apologized. "Hey I was just messing around Sakura! Please don't hit me!"

Sasuke, who had angrily been rubbing his neck, grabbed the Uzumaki's collar and spat back,"She's not the one you need to worry about!"

_"Ya, this is just like old times," _Sakura thought to herself. "I'll put both of you in the hospital if you don't stop right now!" she said aloud.

Sasuke then reluctantly let go of Naruto's collar and pushed him back a few feet. Naruto did not seem to care though, as he had a gigantic smile on his face.

The Uchiha then began to see what had changed about his best friend's appearance. Naruto had gotten taller and wore a long sleeve black shirt with orange pants going down to his sandals. The spiky yellow hair he always had was noticeably a lot shorter than it used to be.

"How ya been Sasuke?" the energetic Uzumaki asked, putting his arms behind his head.

"Hn, I was fine until you got here," the Uchiha replied with a stoic expression present on his face.

"Kakashi sensei told me you were here a few minutes ago and I came right over. How long have you been here anyway?" Naruto asked, sitting down at the table.

"Since last night. Why do you need to know?" He replied as both him and Sakura sat down at the table, too.

"So I can kick your butt for not being at my wedding!"

"Oh ya. Sakura told me me you married Hinata. The next time you see her tell her I'm sorry she married a horrible excuse for a shinobi."

"Shut up you son of a-." Before Naruto could finish, Sakura had reached over and slapped him saying,"You wanna finish that sentence Uzumaki?!"

The scene in front of Sasuke greatly amused him. He had missed arguing with his friends and seeing them argue with each other so much. No matter how much they all argued or fought with each other, they were still good friends and family. His family. They had become the only family that Sasuke had left. Even if he had never really shown it, he loved them like a family. Kakashi had been a father figure to him, Naruto was like a brother, and Sakura... What was Sakura to him? A sister? No. He still hadn't figured that out yet. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind as Naruto had recovered from the slap.

"Geez Sakura, did you have to hit me that hard?" Naruto squeaked.

"Maybe I wouldn't have hit you at all if you quit yelling," she spat back.

"Now that you're both here I have to ask, what's happened in the village in the past three years?" Sasuke said. He had asked the same exact question three years ago when he was in the hospital. They had told him their stories of what happened after he had left the first time. He had been interested to here about Naruto and Sakura's reunion after Naruto had left for training. It started there and went from the first Akatsuki attack on Gaara, to Sakura's fight with Sasori (which Sasuke paid extra attention to), and all the way to when Sasuke had arrived in the war. The most interesting thing to him however, had been Pain's attack on the village which leveled everything. It had hit him hard when he learned why the old Uchiha district had been torn to the ground. It was what he wondered about since he had come with Orochimaru and Team Taka and saw the remains.

"Well nothing really interesting has happened since you last left. Just that me and Hinata are married!" Naruto finished with a huge smile.

"I'm pretty sure our missions capturing that stupid cat are more interesting than hearing that the poor Hyuga girl was forced to marry you," Sasuke replied.

"I'll have you know that Hinata's loved me since we were genin!" Naruto said desperately. "And at least I can get a girlfriend. Heck, at least I got married."

"You know Sasuke, you still have quite a few fangirls around here," Sakura said without looking at him.

"What's up with that anyway? I mean he's ugly as heck, he hasn't really been here much in the last six years, and he's such a big fat jerk," Naruto added.

"Can you just answer my question?" Sasuke said, clearly annoyed.

"Well, Naruto's right. There hasn't been many interesting things going on lately. Kakashi sensei became Hokage, I'm a jounin and second in command at the hospital behind Lady Tsunade, and I guess Naruto is next in line to be Hokage." She then gave a smile to Naruto which he quickly returned. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and frowned, not knowing why he did.

"Anything else?" He asked, wanting her to turn her attention back to him.

"Well, you already know that Naruto and Hinata are married. Sai and Ino are going out."

"You mean the Ino Yamanaka who used to have a huge crush on me? She's going out with that jerk?" Sasuke asked. He had only talked to Sai a couple of times and just from their short conversations, he could tell that Sai could be a bigger jerk than himself sometimes.

"What are you so surprised about? If she liked one jerk she can like another," Naruto said, laughing.

Sasuke could tell that Naruto was just trying to annoy him now. It was working, but he wasn't going to show it. Instead, he looked back at Sakura as she continued.

"Shikamaru and Temari are dating, so are Choji and Karui from the cloud village. Honestly, that's about it."

Sasuke was surprised to hear about who all the couples were, but another thought came to him. There was something that was bothering him now. Something else he just had to ask. He looked back at Sakura, and tried to say his next question as casually as possible.

"What about you?" He asked her while turning his gaze to the floor. He had made sure that he said it with little to no concern in his voice.

Naruto and Sakura were both shocked by the question. Sakura had blushed a little and Naruto stared at Sasuke with his eyes slightly widened.

"Uh... Well no," she said and Sasuke had felt a small rush of relief surge through him.

Naruto had started to grin and added more to her statement. "Sakura has all the guys in the village after her though. You should see how many love letters she has from the war alone."

Sasuke looked up and narrowed his eyes at his best friend. The Uzumaki took this as a confirmation that his suspicions were true. He decided to "interrogate" them now.

"So, did you two do anything, _interesting_, in here last night?" Naruto asked, amused.

"What?!" Sasuke yelled, clearly shocked by the question. Sakura had begun to blush madly and tried to hide it by looking at he floor.

"I heard you got back at around midnight and stayed here. That's plenty of time for you two to get _reacquainted _with each other," Naruto said, knowing he was really pushing it now.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Sasuke angrily asked as he himself had begun to turn red.

"Oh, nothing. When I was outside the door a while ago it was awfully quiet in here. You sure you two weren't _close_?" Naruto said. He had nearly reached the limit.

Sasuke stood up and slammed his hands down on the table. "What are you trying to say?!" he angrily shouted, teeth gritted. Sakura had started to sink down in her chair.

Naruto had been laughing wildly and calmed himself down long enough to push it even further. "Did you want to be _alone_ with Sakura in her apartment last night?"

The next instant, Naruto was lying barely conscious and bleeding on the floor beside the table. Sasuke was about to go for another punch when Sakura grabbed his arm.

"Please don't. Just because he's married doesn't mean he's matured any," she said, still holding his arm.

"Fine," he said. He was still seething with anger when she finally let go of his arm. She went over to Naruto and helped him to a sitting position.

"Are you alright?"

"Is it normal to smell colors?" He responded, his eyes rolling around in their sockets.

She gave a huge sigh and started to heal the spot on his head that was busted open. Sasuke looked away. He was extremely irritated at the thought of her touching other men, even if it was just Naruto. When she was done she gave him an angry look.

"Did you have to hit him that hard?"

Sasuke was about to respond when Naruto spoke up. "Don't worry about it guys! It was my fault anyway!"

"Since when the heck do you take responsibility?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto just laughed. "What do you guys say about eating at Ichiraku's for breakfast?"

"We just ate," the Uchiha replied coldly.

"Oh come on! Don't be such a loser!" Naruto exclaimed.

He was about to decline again when Sakura spoke up. "Sure, I'll go Naruto. Arguing with you two idiots has made me hungry again."

"I guess I'll go then," Sasuke said.

Naruto grinned happily at this. _"Finally. The original Team 7 is truly back!" _He thought to himself.

* * *

On the way to Ichiraku's, the people that were out looked at Sasuke as if he murdered someone on the spot. Luckily, it was still pretty early so there weren't too many people. It didn't bother him much anyway. He didn't personally know any of them.

Naruto and Sakura had noticed the looks their friend got and tried to lighten the mood.

"Hinata, Shino, and Kiba set out on a mission about an hour ago," Naruto stated.

"Do you know when they'll be back?" Sakura asked.

"Hinata said probably by tonight," he replied.

Ichiraku's had come into sight and the Uzumaki sped in front of them, reaching the counter in seconds. After the dust cloud had settled down, the other two continued walking casually towards their friend.

"I'll pay for yours," Sasuke said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Sasuke, you don't have to," Sakura replied, clearly surprised.

"Hn. I want to. It's the least I can do."

They reached the counter and discovered that Naruto had ordered five bowls of ramen and had already eaten one of them. The man at the counter quickly gasped at the sight of the Uchiha.

"Sasuke Uchiha! How have you been? Haven't seen you in a long time!" Surprisingly, he did not look like he wanted to kill Sasuke.

Naruto spoke for him and Sasuke was grateful. "This jerk just came back last night! It was about time too!"

"Well in that case, all three of your meals are free!"

"ALRIGHT!" Naruto shouted as he ordered five more bowls.

Sasuke had been a little upset about the free meals. He had wanted to show Sakura that he had changed. He quickly cursed himself for being upset though. _"Why the heck am I upset about a free meal?" _He looked over at his best friend and wished he hadn't. _"It's probably just because I'll hardly be able to eat one bowl after seeing him eat like that..." _Sasuke had convinced himself that that was the real reason.

They all started to eat. Sasuke was keeping his eyes away from Naruto because if he looked at him again he'd probably vomit on the spot. Shortly afterwards, the Uzumaki finally finished his tenth bowl. After a long and disgusting belch, he started another conversation.

"I can't wait for the festival in a couple of weeks! I'm gonna challenge Gaara to another fight when he gets here!"

"Oh my gosh! I completely forgot about that! And remember what happened the last time you challenged him?" She finished, smirking.

"Hey! He should have waited until I was done, uh..."

"Naruto,"she started,"Kankuro and Temari had already said start. You shouldn't have been gloating and you should've paid attention."

He gave a small laugh. "It was more like taunting really. And was it really fair to have BOTH of his siblings calling it? Last year's festival was in his village, too, so I don't think it was all that fair if you ask me!"

"Whatever you say..." She answered back.

Sasuke had been listening to the conversation and finally asked the question that was on his mind. "What festival?"

Naruto and Sakura turned to their puzzled friend. Naruto spoke first. "Oh, that's right. You left right before the first festival!"

Sasuke waited for him to continue but his friend said nothing else. "That doesn't answer my question."

This time it was Sakura who spoke up. "The festival is where all the nations come together to celebrate the end of the last war and the peace between the majority of the nations. You left a month before the first one."

He was about to speak again but stopped himself when she continued. "We rotate which village holds the festival each year. This year it's being held right here in Konoha. The other nations will get here a week before the day of the festival to help set up or catch up with friends from other villages. Also, a lot of couples have made it a tradition to kiss when the fireworks start at midnight."

"Me and Hinata are gonna do that this year. I've also heard Sai and Ino will, too. I don't know about Choji and Karui. We're all still working to get Shikamaru and Temari to do it. Hey Sakura, you should accept one of the guys this year! They are ALWAYS talking about you around the village."

Sasuke still hadn't turned his head, but he was looking at his friends from the corner of his eye now.

"I'm not really interested in any of them. One guy tried to kiss me as soon as he asked me."

Sasuke fully turned his head to face the wall on his side, away from his teammates. His right hand had clenched into a tight fist after hearing this.

"He ended up in the hospital for a week though," she said as Naruto chuckled.

The Uchiha unclenched his fist and smirked. _"Serves him right," _he thought to himself.

"So your not gonna ask anyone then?" Naruto asked. Sasuke had started to frown as he waited for her answer.

"No, I guess not." She answered casually. Sasuke breathed a small sigh of relief and started to finish his food again.

"Oh come on! You should ask Gaara or Lee! Lee would accept in a heartbeat. I bet Gaara would accept if you asked him," Naruto said.

Sasuke had choked on his food the moment his friend had finished. He stopped as soon as possible though, as he eagerly awaited her answer.

"I told you Naruto, I'm fine by myself. And if I WAS going to ask someone, I wouldn't ask either of them. Lee is nice and all but I don't think of him as anything more than a friend. Gaara is nice, too, and honestly pretty good looking, but the same goes for him. He's just a friend."

Sasuke felt a huge rush of relief, which he was quick to criticize himself for. _"Why do I care if she asks someone or not?! It's her choice, not mine!" _

Then, the other two had stopped talking as someone walked up to them. Kakashi Hatake, their former sensei, and now the Hokage welcomed his old team with a smile only seen by looking at his eyes.

"How's it going guys?" He turned to Sasuke. "I see you've already gotten reacquainted with each other then."

Recalling his best friend's words from earlier, he glared at Naruto and then at the Hokage. "Is this some sort of dumb joke?"

Kakashi widened his eyes in surprise. He was about to respond when Sakura gave him a warning look. Kakashi glanced over at a suspiciously grinning Naruto and wondered to himself,_"What could he have possibly done in the short time Sasuke has been back..." _

"I don't know what your talking about, but I was trying to say that you've talked with the other original team members, too," the Hokage said, choosing his words carefully.

"Hn," was all Sasuke said back.

"How have you two been?" The Hatake asked Sakura and Naruto.

"I'm good," said Sakura.

"Me too," Naruto said. "We just finished eating a free breakfast. You should have come a few minutes earlier Kakashi sensei."

The masked Hokage chuckled. "I don't want to interrupt you guys catching up with each other. With an old man like me around, it would just be awkward."

Naruto chuckled," Oh come on, you're only like what, thirty three or four."

Kakashi stopped laughing and looked nervously at Naruto. "How did you know that?!"

It was Naruto's turn to look nervous. "Uh..."

While The two men argued, Sasuke had gotten up and walked over to a nearby building. He leaned against it and closed his eyes. He had learned about so many changes to the village in just the last twelve or so hours. The most intriguing had been the festival. He would probably just stay at the apartment while it was going on though, that is until someone made him get up and go. Then a new thought came to him. The only reason he would willingly go. _"No, I shouldn't. I don't deserve the right to ask..."_

Sakura had noticed that Sasuke had left and went over to see if he was okay.

"Sasuke, are you okay?" She asked.

"Hn," he opened his eyes,"I'm fine. Don't worry about me."

"Oh, okay. Naruto, Kakashi sensei, and I were going to go to the training field today and I was wondering if you'd want to come with me and wait for them?" She looked back at the two men. "It could be a while if Kakashi sensei is mad..."

"Hn. Sure," he smirked,"I've been waiting a long time to kick that dobe's butt again."

* * *

Naruto had just finished his explanation of how he found out the Hokage's age and had noticed his friends' absences.

"They're probably already headed to the training field. I can't wait to show Sasuke who the real loser is again!" Naruto started to run to the field when Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder.

Kakashi had just remembered the earlier events that took place when he first greeted them. "No, Naruto we need to talk."

"Look if your still mad-"

Kakashi had a serious look in his eyes now. "It's not about that. I think you know what I'm talking about."

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura had been walking in silence toward the training field. It was beginning to feel awkward.

Sakura was looking straight ahead, wondering what he had been through on his journey. _"He's changed quite a bit, not just his looks." _She took a quick glance at him and turned back to look at the road.

Sasuke had been inwardly arguing with himself on whether he should ask. _"You don't have any right to ask her for anything! How am I supposed to forgive myself if I can't talk to her?! You don't deserve her or any of your other friends at all! I know that I can never truly make up for all that I've done, but they've forgiven me. You don't deserve their forgiveness, especially hers! I know that I don't deserve it, but now it's time I try to feel like I've earned it..."_

"Sakura?"

"Hm?" she asked, turning her head toward him.

"About the festival..."

"Ya?"

_"You don't deserve it! Just ask her now!" _Sasuke's inner thoughts were still screaming at him. "Would you like to..."

_"Ask already you idiot! Don't do it!" _He didn't say anything.

One of his thoughts had taken over now, so he decided to listen to it. _"JUST ASK!"_

"Would you like to go with me to the festival? You know, as, friends." He quickly added the last part so it wouldn't sound like was asking her on a date.

"Uh... sure! As friends..." There was a small hint of disappointment in her voice as she answered.

Sasuke had noticed it and frowned. Somewhere inside of him though, there was a slight spark of happiness because of it.

_"Does that mean she still feels the same way?" _

A strong feeling of regret hit him. It didn't matter how she felt about him now. He only thought of her as a close friend. Or, was he just fooling himself with that thought?

_"I shouldn't even be thinking like this. I only asked so I'd get a chance to talk to someone. That's all. I haven't really had anyone to talk to in three years." _

He looked over at her and saw the sad expression on her face. Even though he said she was his friend, and only his friend, he felt the need to embrace her in a hug.

_"What's wrong with me? I need to control myself. Well... isn't that what friends do? They hug? What am I thinking?! It's always her... It's always her that makes me feel like this. I can't think straight when I'm around her. Why? Why do I always feel the need to impress her or act cool around her? When she's not around I always think about her, too. GET YOUR HEAD TOGETHER! YOUR AN UCHIHA FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! My thoughts are always this crazy when I'm around her, too..." _

They walked the rest of the way to the training grounds in silence.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the abrupt ending. I didn't know exactly where to go from there. Sasuke is so clueless... I will eventually fix that though! I don't know if there was any festival or mention of one in The Last so just know that I made it up. There will be a growing evil soon and it will have a great deal to do with Sasuke. Without spoiling much, I'm just gonna say that things will be pretty peaceful for the next few chapters. I'm using that space for introducing our favorite characters! Thanks for reading! Please review! Thanks for the follows!


	4. Challenge

**Author's Note: **The uploads for the next chapters might come a little slower than expected so please be patient with me. Thank for the reviews and follows! I really appreciate it. I don't know what else to say so here's chapter four!

* * *

They had finally reached the training grounds and the awkward silence continued. Sasuke walked over to a tree and leaned against it, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Sakura sat down on a nearby stump and looked around at the open field. She began to wonder about their conversation a few minutes ago.

_"Why am I upset? I should be happy. I mean, Sasuke Uchiha, just asked if he could go to the festival with me of all people. Even if it is just as friends, he still asked me. I just wanna know what the heck happened to him in the last three years to make him change THIS much. If I know the old Sasuke, he'd want to stay as far away from anything celebratory or social as possible." _As Sakura continued to think about the subject, Sasuke had started to wonder.

_"I hope Naruto and Kakashi get here soon. I don't like it when there's silence like this. I don't know if I should say something, and if I do what should I say? I can't think straight. Why do I have to be like this around her?! I shouldn't have asked her if she wanted to go to the festival with me. I'm gonna end up making a complete idiot out of myself. She probably already thinks that I've developed mental issues."_

Both of them continued to wonder in silence, every now and then making a small noise by coughing or moving their feet. They waited and waited but no one came. So they waited some more and still, no one.

_"What the heck are they doing, sharing their life stories with the whole village!" _Sakura thought to herself. She let out a loud sigh, much louder than she intended, but she could care less at this point.

Sasuke opened his eyes. He had fallen asleep a few minutes ago. When he saw that the rest of the team still wasn't there, he gave an irritated eye roll. _"You have to be kidding me. We've waited for at least twenty minutes." _A gust of wind blew his bangs that were covering his left eye into his right eye. _"Sometimes that can get so annoying," _he looked over at Sakura,_"Just like her..." _A smirk settled on his face.

Sakura glanced over at Sasuke and noticed his smirk towards her. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," he paused as she blushed,"And how annoying you are."

"At least I'm not as big a jerk as you are," she spat back.

"You have a point..." He replied. She smiled at him and laughed. "I wonder what's taking them so long. I've waited three years to beat Naruto again. How many times have you kicked his butt?" He mostly said the last part because he didn't want the awkward silence to return.

She sighed. "I always beat him. He goes way to easy on me because he doesn't want to hurt me. It's so boring. I mean I know it's just training but I can't get better if he won't fight me at his best. When the others are here, I ask them. It's not very often though because they're always out on missions. It's mainly Ino, Hinata, or Tenten."

"Hn," was all he said. He was itching to fight someone now. It had been quite a while since he had been in a real fight. Actually, the last time he had been in a fight where he needed to use his eyes was when he fought Naruto at the Final Valley.

"I guess I have time to kick your butt while we wait," he said with a smirk.

Sakura was shocked by this sudden statement. Since when did Sasuke Uchiha feel that she was good enough to take him on? "Is that a challenge?"

"Hn, I don't know, is it?" The sarcasm in his voice was extremely apparent.

"Why do YOU want to fight ME? I'm nowhere near your skill level."

"You said that you wanted a real fight. You shouldn't doubt yourself either." He reached into the front of his vest and pulled out a dark blue bandana.

"Oh please, I don't stand a chance against you. You probably don't even need to use your eyes." She stopped when she saw him tying the bandana around his head, exposing his left eye. "And do you always carry that around with you?" She added with a smile.

"Why not? I might need to use both my eyes sometimes. And like I said, don't doubt yourself. It doesn't get you anywhere. If there's anything I've learned being a shinobi, it's that you should never underestimate your opponent," he finished with a stoic look.

"You overestimate me," she mumbled, barely loud enough for him to here.

"Just shut up and get ready," he responded, clearly annoyed.

She rolled her eyes and did as he said. Pulling the black gloves she used in battle out of the bag on her hip, she walked to the right side of the field.

Sasuke took his position on the left side and waited. He hadn't used any jutsu since his battle with Naruto. All he had needed was his blade and his eyes since then. This, however, was going to be a tough fight. Sasuke had only seen a little of what Sakura could do when he had come back in the war. He remembered how surprised he had been when a single one of her punches had blasted the enemy about a mile back. He had never admitted it to anyone, but he smiled after getting over his shock. He used his chokuto to hide it though.

Sakura looked across at Sasuke and waited, wondering to herself. _"No matter what he does it just makes him look even more attractive." _She continued to stare into both of his eyes. Some might think that the Rinnegan was unattractive and weird, but she thought that it looked beautiful. Looking into the purple eye, it was like someone had cast a spell on her. She didn't look away until she noticed his right eye turning red. The first stage of the Sharingan had clicked into place.

"So you actually think you'll even need to use that to beat me?"

He smirked. "Are you trying to make me underestimate you?"

She returned the smirk. "I don't know, am I?"

She watched as Sasuke unsheathed the chokuto. _"So he's going to use his sword first, huh? I guess that's what he's most comfortable with." _In response, she took out a kunai knife and twirled it around in her fingers. He was clearly not going to make the first move, so she planned in her head.

_"I'm going to wait until I have distance to use jutsu. I don't know if it will be any good or not. Come to think of it, I haven't used genjutsu in a long time either. My best bet right now is my chokuto or taijutsu. I'll let her make the first move.__" _He stood in a battle stance with his sword in front of him and waited.

Just as he had finished preparing, she charged at him. She was much quicker than he had expected and met him in a couple of seconds. The blades clashed and they fought to see who would get the upper hand. Sakura greatly outmatched him when it came to strength so she forced him back a few feet and threw the kunai at his neck, which he deflected with ease.

"That all you got?" He said while sheathing his sword.

"You haven't even seen the beginning," she said as she charged again.

This time it was a battle in taijutsu. Sasuke had been on the defensive and dodged every punch and kick she threw at him. Now, it was his turn to attack. He threw a punch at her side and she caught his hand. Then he kicked at her side and she caught his foot with her other hand. Using his free foot, he landed a kick on her stomach and forced her back a few feet. He realized then that he had made a mistake. She had wanted him to do that. It gave her an opening to use her enormous strength.

She watched as the chakra started to build up in her hand. Grinning, she brought her fist down, watching and listening as the ground was breaking and cracking in front of her.

Sasuke jumped up just in time to escape the earthquake happening below him. He forced chakra to his feet so he could land on a lone tree behind him. He caught the kunai that was thrown towards his face just an inch in front of his eye. The kunai had been a distraction for her to land a chakra filled punch on the trunk of the tree. He jumped again as the tree toppled over and realized that he had a good distance now.

_"That was close but I can't think about it now. Here's my chance!" _He quickly began to make the hand signs for the jutsu. Flying high in the air he took a huge breath and used the jutsu.

She turned around as she heard a few words coming from the Uchiha. "Fireball jutsu!" He shouted as the fire style jutsu quickly shot from his mouth. It was slow and small though, so she dodged it with extreme ease.

"That was pretty weak. Your pretty rusty you know," she laughed at him and turned it into a smirk.

Sasuke had been silently cursing himself for his pitiful attempt at the jutsu. "Give me a break, I haven't done that in three years." She smiled.

He quickly looked at the environment around him and looked back at her. She was looking beside her at the tree she had knocked down. He smirked and took his chance. Rushing toward her, he drew his sword and swiped at her stomach. She dodged it just in time and grabbed his left ankle as he went past.

_"How could I have fallen for that!" _He silently screamed at himself.

This had been part of her plan. She swung him high into the air so she could catch her breath. That had been a mistake on her part. She had underestimated him.

Sasuke starightened himself out so he looked down at her. He dropped his sword and quickly spun around, putting as much strength as he could into the kick he gave to the sword's hilt. This gave him enough time to let his left eye change again. The pattern of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was sliding into place. He hadn't thought he would need to use it in this fight, but he had been terribly wrong.

Sakura had been crouching and gasping for air as she heard something whiz through the air towards her. She caught the chokuto by it's handle, the speed by which it had been kicked forcing her to turn in circles as she tried to use it to her advantage. She had turned about ten circles at breakneck speed by the time she had chucked it back at him. She groaned in pain and grabbed her arm. Her shoulder had nearly been dislocated by the force that she used when she had thrown the blade back at him.

Sasuke was still in the air, focused on his eye when he noticed a blur coming straight at him. He moved right as his blade was about to cut through his stomach and grabbed the hilt. The force of the throw made him fly back a few more feet when he touched the ground. Pain in his side started to set in as he noticed the deep cut that had happened moments ago. He did move and dodge what could have been a sword through the stomach, but he hadn't fully moved his body out of the way when he caught it. Heck, he probably wouldn't have even dodged at all if his Mangekyo Sharingan hadn't been active at that moment. Falling to his knees, he put his hand over the cut on his left side. The pain had started there and moved all the way down his left leg.

Sakura had been charging toward him again while he was distracted. She threw a kick at his head and he blocked it with his right arm and jumped back a few feet. She had him where she wanted him now. She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and ran toward him again with a chakra filled fist. She gasped as she noticed that he had moved and was nowhere in sight. The crackling of a sword filled with Chidori made her turn around and watch as he cut down five trees. Jumping and weaving around the falling limbs and trees, she saw the lightning coming from the sword disappear. With a quick flash he was behind her and she turned around, but it was too late. His right hand filled with lightning went through her heart and she gasped in shock.

"Why would you do that?" She asked as blood came from her mouth.

He smirked,"Because you're just a Substitution!"

The clone disappeared with a small cloud of smoke and turned into a log. Sasuke quickly spun around and caught the left fist coming towards his head when he threw her to the ground. He jumped on top of her and held the chokuto to her throat.

"I win," he said, gasping for air.

"I guess you do," she said, also gasping for air. They had come back to about where they had started. They sat there in that position, gasping for breath when Sakura finally spoke.

"So, how did you know that I used Substitution?" Sasuke looked back down at her and tapped his eye with his left hand.

She was shocked when she saw that he was using the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. "You REALLY had to use it?!" She asked in complete disbelief.

"I told you that you shouldn't underestimate yourself," he said as his eye returned to the regular onyx color. "And if I hadn't used it when I did, I would probably have a sword in my chest right now."

"Thanks for not going easy on me. And sorry about that," she nodded towards the cut on his left side. "Will you get off of me now?"

"Hn," his smirk returned,"I'm gonna sit here another minute because you asked."

"Jerk!" She couldn't help but smile at him.

Sasuke looked back down and saw the smile. Their eyes met and time froze. He started to lean down and throw his sword aside when something hard hit his right ear. He fell beside Sakura and felt the attacker jump on top of him and grab his collar. The attacker punched him and started to scream in his face.

"How dare you try and hurt Sakura! Were you trying to kill her you stupid-"

"Naruto, stop! They were just training!" Kakashi screamed as he pulled the Uzumaki off of a dumbfounded Sasuke.

"Oh, you guys were just training... Hahaha, sorry about that Sasuke. Your sword was just. And I thought..."

A very furious Sasuke sat up and held his right ear. "It's fine. I know what it looked like and I understand. BUT COULD IT REALLY HURT FOR YOU TO TAKE A SECOND OF YOUR TIME TO CONSIDER THAT WE'RE ON THE TRAINING FIELD?!"

Naruto gave a nervous laugh and started to speak but Kakashi interrupted. "I know you're angry Sasuke, but he was just acting on instinct. Anyway how was your fight?"

Sakura had sat up and answered for him. "It was fun. I guess." She glanced over at Sasuke and wondered what would've happened if Naruto hadn't come along. What she didn't know was that he was thinking the same thing.

Kakashi saw the looks on their faces and raised an eyebrow. _"Hm, that was quite a position they were in we got here. Sasuke did look to be making a move." _He looked at Naruto who was nervously smiling with his hands behind his head. _"Maybe Naruto was right..."_

* * *

A FEW MINUTES AGO

Naruto sat and watched as Kakashi ordered three bowls of ramen. "When are we going to talk? They're probably already at the training field."

"In a minute, I haven't had breakfast yet."

Naruto sighed. Then his eyes widened and he stared at his former sensei with complete determination. He was going to see what Kakashi looked like without his mask and nothing was going to stop him! His eyes started to water as Kakashi put his fingers on his mask. _"I can't hold it anymore! It won't hurt to blink just once will it?!" _He blinked as fast as he possibly could. What he saw made his mouth open to the ground. Kakashi had already finished and was rubbing his hands together.

"That was really good. Alright let's go Naruto!"

Naruto got up and immediately started questioning him. "How the heck did you do that? I blinked and you were done!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I eat just like any other person," he answered casually.

"What did you wanna talk about Kakashi sensei?"

"Oh, that. I'd like to know why Sasuke looked angry when I asked if he had gotten reacquainted with you and Sakura. Do you know anything about it?"

Naruto smiled and started to laugh. "Hahaha. I know about it alright."

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, what did you do this time?"

"Why do you always assume it's me!?"

Kakashi stopped walking and gave his former student a stern look. He started walking again when Naruto answered.

"Fine, it was me. I was just messing around and the jerk got all mad at me!"

"What did you do?"

Naruto grinned. "I may have asked him why he stayed at Sakura's apartment. And what they did."

Kakashi sighed again. "I assume you said it a lot worse than that. Why did you do that anyway?"

"Like I said, I was just fooling around. I was surprised how he reacted when I asked, so I just kept going. Then he punched me. Hehehe, I think there's somethin goin on with him and Sakura. Or at least with how he "feels" about her."

Kakashi was extremely surprised by this. He knew about the way Sakura had always felt about Sasuke, but Sasuke? He remembered how easy it was for him to guess that Sasuke was going to find her last night. The way the Uchiha looked when he brought her up was different. Could Sasuke have had a change of heart? It seemed like such an impossible thing to think of. Then again, Kakashi knew better than to trust Naruto about things like this so easily.

_"I will just have to see for myself," _he decided.

* * *

"It certainly looks like you two had quite a fight," Kakashi said as he noticed the cut on Sasuke's side.

"So are you ready to get your butt kicked again Sasuke?!" Naruto eagerly shouted.

"I'm going to train with you today Naruto. These two are obviously banged up," Kakashi interrupted.

"Well, I guess that's fine. Sakura got to beat him up today, so it's my turn next time!"

Sasuke finally spoke up. "Hn, I bet you can't make a single scratch on me."

"We'll see about that next time!" Naruto yelled as he and Kakashi got into place.

Sasuke slowly stood up and offered a hand to Sakura, which she gladly took. She groaned in pain because that was the one she nearly dislocated. "I nearly ripped my arm off throwing your chokuto back at you."

He smirked and lifted his hand off of his bloody side,"Thanks for that by the way."

She gasped and made him sit down on one of the nearby trees he had cut down. "Sorry about that! I guess I got carried away!"

"Don't apologize. You caught me off guard. It was a good move. Even though you could have killed me..."

"Shut up and take your shirt off so I can heal you!" She nervously said. She had to tell him to do that or she wouldn't have been able to do her job.

He did as he was told and took off his vest, then his shirt. Sakura quickly crouched down and started to heal his side, trying to hide the furious blush that had appeared on her face. What had made her blush was the sight of the Uchiha's abs. She didn't want him to notice that she had stared for a few seconds but he had.

As she started to heal his wound, he looked down and saw her furious blush. He rolled his eyes in amusement,"You know, it's really annoying when you do that. You're the one who asked me to take off my shirt."

She playfully punched his shoulder. "Well, excuse me for not wanting your cut to get any worse. And why do you look if it's so annoying?"

He shrugged but he knew exactly why. For some reason he liked seeing her blush because of him. It made him feel... different. That was the only way to explain it. Different. When she had finished healing him, he took off his bandana and smoothed his hair out over his left eye. Then he put on his shirt and vest along with the chokuto as someone yelled at them.

"Hey! Forehead!"

Sakura turned around and knew exactly who it was. "Ino Yamanaka."

Ino ran up to her best friend and gave her a hug. "Why didn't you tell me that-" her voice trailed off as she saw Sasuke sitting nearby. "Oh! Hey Sasuke, how are you? It's been awhile."

"Hn, fine." He would have said more, but he noticed the person who had been walking behind her.

"Hello, Sai. How are you?" Sakura asked.

Sai raised a hand and smiled for no reason. "Greetings Sakura, and I'm good. Thanks for asking," he turned to Sasuke and slightly dropped his smile,"Hello Sasuke."

Sasuke folded his arms,"Hn. Sai."

A silence filled the air. The only sounds heard were from the ongoing battle between Naruto and Kakashi. Ino sat down at the other end of the fallen tree with Sakura and they started talking about whatever girls talked about. Sasuke felt a little upset, but he told himself it was just because now he was stuck here with Sai. The pale, dark haired shinobi wore a black jacket with a huge scroll on his back. His long pants were also black. Sai had been Sasuke's replacement after he had left the first time. Naruto told him that he hadn't been chosen until after he had returned from training with Master Jiraiya.

_"The only thing that Sai had truly been a replacement for was his attitude," _Sasuke thought to himself. Sakura had told him about Sai's struggle with emotions and said that was why could be a total jerk sometimes. The only reason Sasuke had still not liked Sai so much was because he knew that he didn't trust him. _"After all I've done, I can understand why he still doesn't trust me. Maybe I should give him a chance though." _

Sai, who had been watching the fight, spoke to break the silence. "How was your journey?"

Sasuke's attention went to Sai. "It was interesting. It helped a lot. How are things with you and Ino?" He had only asked that question because he didn't want to talk.

"That is good to hear. Things with us are going great. Last night we-"

"I don't need to hear anymore!" Sasuke quickly interrupted.

"-went out to dinner with Naruto and Hinata. Did I say something wrong?"

"No, just forget it." Sasuke sighed as Sai turned his attention back to the fight. He looked at Ino and Sakura,_"Someone help me."_

* * *

Sakura and Ino had just finished talking about the latest gossip in the village. Well, Ino had finished telling Sakura about all the gossip. Ino was wearing her classic purple as always. Her blonde hair tied in a long ponytail that went all the way down her back, stopping at the waist. The long blonde bangs covering her right eye moved when she did.

Ino gave her friend an amused look. "When were you going to tell me that Sasuke is staying at your apartment?"

"Ino, he needed a place to stay. I told him he could stay at my apartment if he wanted, and he said that he would. There's nothing more to it. Before you ask, no he didn't say anything and we didn't do anything."

"Ugh! Forehead, you know that you still have a crush on him!" Ino yelled back at her friend.

Sakura gave a small blush,"Maybe I do. Shut up before he hears you! Your such a dumb pig!"

Ino laughed. "So what was he doing with his shirt off when we got here?"

Sakura sighed. "We finished training and I was healing him. There's nothing more to it, so don't ask again!"

"Wait you guys were training together?!"

"Ya, we had a fight while we waited for Naruto and Kakashi sensei."

Ino jumped up and stood in front of her best friend. "You two were training alone?! Aw, that is so cute!"

Sakura pulled Ino down to sit beside her again. "Nothing happened! I swear Ino, one of these days I am going to kill you!"

Naruto and Kakashi had just finished their fight with Naruto being the winner.

"I finally beat you Kakashi sensei!" The excited Uzumaki shouted.

Kakashi was holding his stomach and leaning against a tree. "Well, I guess that anything is fair in the shinobi world. I wasn't expecting a move like that and I let my guard down."

Sakura was very concerned for her sensei and asked what had happened. Kakashi answered.

"Naruto used his shadow clones as a distraction and he kicked me in the groin."

Everyone sighed and spoke in unison. "Naruto!" They all screamed.

"What?! Even Kakashi sensei said that everything is fair in the shinobi world!"

"It's fine. Naruto was just um... using it to his advantage?." Kakashi said, trying to save his student.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes after this. Then they all decided to get lunch together. Everyone except for Sasuke. The others started to head off and Sakura took a quick glance back at him. Kakashi, who had agreed to go with them, stayed behind for some reason.

"I thought you were going to go with them," Sasuke said, looking back at Kakashi.

"I was, but you declined."

Sasuke gave his former sensei a confused look. Kakashi quickly noticed it and explained.

"Why don't you want to go with them?"

The Uchiha shrugged,"I guess I want to practice my jutsu. I don't want to be known as a lousy shinobi."

"That can wait until later. We should go back to my office so that I can explain some of the changes around here."

"How long will that take?"

"Who knows? But I figured that you would like to get it out of the way."

Sasuke sighed,"Fine."

They started to walk to the Hokage's office.

* * *

Sasuke yawned. It was almost eleven and he had about reached the apartment. All the Hokage had done for who knows how many hours was tell him about some location and rule changes.

He opened the apartment door with an irritated look. "What is it going to take for me to get you to lock this door?"

"Stop worrying about it. What took you so long anyway?" A tired Sakura retorted.

"Kakashi was explaining a bunch of changes and rules. I was just getting it out of the way. Why aren't you asleep?"

"I was waiting for your sorry butt to get back so I could see if you wanted this shirt," she pointed to his current shirt,"Since you're still wearing the ripped one. You're lucky I'm not mad, I have work tomorrow."

"About that," he went over to take the shirt and hand her a letter,"Kakashi told me to give you this."

She opened it and her eyes widened in shock. "He's giving me the next few weeks off! I wonder what's made him so generous lately."

"Good for you, now get off my bed," he said while pointing to the couch.

She slowly got up and walked toward her room. "Good night Sasuke."

"Shut up and get out," he said sarcastically.

He put on the new shirt and laid down on the couch. He stared at the ceiling for the next hour, wondering what horrible memories would wake him up tonight. He finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I used this chapter as a chance to introduce a few more characters that will be more involved later. I might make it time for the other nations arrival in the next chapter. We all know what that means! I love me some Kazekage Gaara... I also used this chapter for a small sasusaku moment. More of those will be coming. Danger will start to come soon, too. Also, like I said in the beginning note, the next chapters may come slower than usual so don't think that I have abandoned this story! Thanks for reading! P.S. Sorry again for my terrible grammar!


	5. Control

**Author's Note: **I am a little upset with myself for some grammar errors in the last few chapters. So I am going to pay more attention to those. Also, in their training fight I meant to put that his right eye changed, not the left. Thanks for the follows and reviews! Here's chapter five!

* * *

_"I have long since closed my eyes. My only goal lies in the darkness." The words that Sasuke Uchiha had said rang through his mind again. The purple susanoo surrounding him as protection was in it's skeleton like form. His hand was over his left eye, the blood coming from it had run down his cheek. He looked up slightly and could see through the rib cage of the susanoo. Breathing heavily, his hand slid over both of his eyes as he closed them. Then, a wicked smile spread across his face. He was truly lost to darkness. _

_The scene changed. _

_Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother, was standing across from him. _

_Sasuke was furious. "Itachi, you slaughtered our entire clan. You let me live so that I could challenge you. Now, here we are. __I left the Leaf Village in search of the power to beat you. It's time for you to pay! It's time for me to kill you!"_

_Itachi's expression was stoic and he had not moved until now. "Come then little brother. Let's settle this once and for all!" _

_Another change._

_Itachi coughed up a ton of blood into his hand. His right eye closed, blood running from it. His orange susanoo was beginning to fade. He slowly started to walk towards his little brother._

_ Sasuke stumbled back as Itachi kept coming towards him. He stopped as something hard hit his back. A gigantic piece of some wall that had been destroyed earlier in their battle was in his way. He didn't have the strength to make his way around it and Itachi was extremely close now. The only thing he could do now was press his body as close as possible to the section of wall. Itachi stopped in front of him and extended two of his fingers, reaching towards the younger Uchiha's forehead. _

_There were then multiple changes. They all showed Sasuke and Itachi at different ages, all ending in Itachi poking his little brother's forehead. All ending in Itachi saying "Sorry Sasuke, maybe next time." _

_The bloody fingers landed on his forehead. Sasuke stood staring in complete disbelief at his smiling older brother. The fingers slid down the side of his face, leaving a trail of blood from his forehead to the bottom of his cheek. Itachi hit the wall, then collapsed to the ground, dead. _

_Sasuke had finally closed his gaping mouth. He continued to stare straight ahead, still in complete disbelief at his brother. His eyes were half closed now as he looked out of the corner of his eye at Itachi's body. Everything started to go dark and he collapsed right beside his brother's body, unconscious._

_A change._

_Sasuke was tied up and was listening to the man in the orange mask's story._

_"The Uchiha clan was planning a coup d'état on the rest of Konoha. Itachi was given the choice of joining the clan and dying with everyone in it or killing them himself. He chose to kill the clan, his own mother and father, his friends and family, all just to save you. His little brother. It was all part of his plan for you to kill him. He wanted you to carry out his will. To go back to the Leaf Village and protect it and the people in it. Itachi loved you Sasuke."_

_This time the change went to Sasuke standing on a boulder. He was crying, he couldn't stop thinking about the truth. The truth being that Itachi had loved him, and that the village forced him to do what he did. _

_When he stopped crying, he looked up and spoke. "I'm sorry Itachi, but I can't carry out your will. They will suffer for what they made you do." His eyes widened as the Mangekyo Sharingan settled in both of them. "All of Konoha will perish!"_

_It changed once again._

_The Reanimated Itachi stopped in front of Sasuke. He was slowly disappearing, going back to the afterlife. He pulled Sasuke closer so that their foreheads were touching. He smiled and spoke._

_"You don't have to forgive me for anything I've done. But, I want you to remember one thing. No matter what you do from here on out, I will always love you." Itachi disappeared completely._

* * *

"Itachi!" Sasuke yelled as he hit the floor. He didn't move for a minute, trying to accept that it was just a dream, or really just more memories coming back to haunt him. He finally pulled himself up, drenched in sweat. Slowly making his way to the bathroom, he tried not to think about the nightmare with no luck. As he splashed his face with cold water, a realization came to him. _"If it isn't Sakura, then it's Itachi. It's always something. Always something..." _

* * *

Sakura had woken up a few minutes ago because of a loud noise coming from outside her room. She had sat up and wondered if she should go and check it out. When she heard the bathroom door close, she realized it was just Sasuke. Now she was wide awake and she groaned, getting up and making her way to the living room. _"Thanks for waking me up," _she thought as she passed the bathroom door. She stood beside the couch when he opened the door, rubbing his eyes.

A surprised look crossed his face when he looked up and spoke. "What are you doing up?" he asked groggily.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said as she walked to the table and sat down. "I heard a loud noise and I woke up. Are you okay?" she added.

He sat down on the couch. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream." He stared at the floor with a frown and sorrow in his eyes.

She hesitated when she asked her next question. "Do you... Do you want to... Talk about it?"

He was brought out of his thoughts by the sudden question and quickly changed his expression to a stoic one. "No, I said I was fine."

She didn't respond and looked away from him. They sat in silence for the next few minutes, neither making a noise or moving a muscle. Sasuke got up suddenly and put his vest on and grabbed the sword, attaching it to the back of the vest. He made his way to the door and was about to open it when Sakura got in front of him, blocking his path.

"Where are you going?!" she asked with urgency.

"For a walk," he responded indifferently. He was confused by her actions.

"Sasuke, it's three in the morning," she said, still sounding like she was extremely worried.

"So?" he asked. He was still completely lost.

"Then why are you taking that?" she asked, pointing to his sword.

The realization hit him like a slap in the face. A massive frown settled on his face as he tried to figure out what to say. He needed to reassure her that his intentions were far from what she was thinking. He leaned closer so that they were only inches away.

"I'm not leaving. I promise," he whispered. She didn't move so he gently pushed her away from the door and walked out, closing it behind him. He moved to the side and crossed his arms, counting in his head, _"Five... Four... Three... Two..." _

Right on time, she opened the door and walked out. She turned her head to the right when she heard a small laugh. After she realized that he had purposefully waited, she punched his shoulder and stomped down the stairs ahead of him.

He couldn't help but give a small smile before turning it into a gigantic smirk. Walking down the stairs and rubbing his shoulder, he saw her waiting at the bottom with her arms crossed and a very irritated look on her face.

"I really hate you sometimes!" she yelled at him.

"Hn," he said as they started walking to nowhere in particular. _"You should hate me all the time," _he thought to himself.

They were silent until they reached the part of the village where most of the stores and shops were located.

"Why are so many people up this early?" he asked as dirty looks met him from all sides.

"I guess because they're starting to prepare for the festival," she answered.

He had forgotten about the approaching festival, and that he had asked her. "Do we have to wear anything, fancy?"

"No, we mainly just wear our normal outfits."

He was relieved by her answer. If it meant life or death, he still probably would not have dressed up unless he was forced.

They continued to walk and the death stares and whispers kept coming towards Sasuke. He ignored most of them and just kept walking along. They were mostly coming from regular villagers, no one that could actually do anything to hurt him. He didn't know any of them so none of their insults mattered. One conversation had caught his attention as they were walking past.

Two men, both of them looked to be in their early twentys, whispered to each other about the Uchiha's intentions.

"Why is a traitor like him allowed to walk around the village freely?!" he angrily whispered to the other man.

"I don't know what's happened to this village. We were fine under any other Hokage, but the Hatake must have lost his mind. He shouldn't have even been in the running for Hokage, as careless as he is. And what about letting the jinchuriki run around freely too?"

Sasuke started to walk slower. An angry look was beginning to grow on his face. They could insult him as much as they wanted, but his comrades? He would not accept that. They had nothing to do with anything he had done. In fact, they were the ones that had saved him.

The other man answered. "Tell me about it. Naruto Uzumaki has a monster sealed inside him, and he claims that he has full control. I don't believe it for a second."

They were really testing Sasuke's patience now. First, they insulted his sensei. Now, they were insulting his best friend. He clenched his fists and walked even slower. Sakura hadn't noticed how agitated he was becoming and walked slower with him. She glanced at him and started to listen to the conversation that he had been listening to.

"I know right. The current Hokage is a disgrace and that Uzumaki is, too. One other thing. You see the Haruno girl walking beside him? I hear she still feels for that Uchiha traitor. If she wants a real man, she could just ask me or you. That Uchiha is just going to use her to revive his clan. That's the only thing he cares about now." They started to give him another glare when they were met by one.

Sasuke had reached the limit to his patience with their last comments. He had turned around with the Mangekyo Sharingan blazing at the two men. He started to move towards them, his teeth gritted. They ran away as fast as they possibly could. Preparing to run after them, he was stopped when Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him along. He was still furious when she finally let him go. How dare they insult his friends like that. He would never use Sakura like that either. Never.

"Calm down," she said as he started to go after them again. She grabbed both of his shoulders.

"Let me go! They insulted you and the others!" He started to pull away and she grabbed both of his wrists and made him face her.

"Sasuke, we've all had to deal with this for a long time now. Please calm down."

He started to struggle again and she sighed as she dragged him even further away. She had dragged him all the way to the village gates when he finally stopped struggling.

"Are you done now?" she asked, annoyed.

He nodded and folded his arms when she let go. His eye returned to normal. He was still agitated and decided to change the subject, hoping to blow off some steam.

"On my journey, I apologized to most of the people and villages I had hurt. I still haven't apologized to the people here. There's another person I haven't said anything to either."

"Stop worrying about us! Who's this other person anyway?"

He was annoyed when she said not to worry about them, but ignored it for now. "The Kazekage. I was concerned that he might crush me if I came anywhere near the Sand Village."

Sakura had completely forgotten that Sasuke had left before the major change in Gaara. They had told him that Gaara and his siblings had been helping on the mission to save him and he didn't believe them at first. Sasuke had also seen Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro at the Five Kage Summit. He was extremely puzzled when Gaara had calmly acted against him and tried to tell him to let go of his demons and that even the smallest of lights should have reached him. He still didn't know how much Gaara and his siblings had changed. He hadn't been told much about them after the war so he guessed now was the time to ask.

Sakura smiled. "He wouldn't do that. You were worried for nothing. Naruto helped Gaara change since Gaara was a jinchuriki, too. It was really amazing how much Naruto reached out to him. Naruto's been pretty jealous of him ever since he found out that he had become Kazekage. He challenges him every chance he gets. Temari and Kankuro are with whatever Gaara does now. I'm not gonna lie, Gaara is pretty amazing!"

Sasuke frowned and rolled his eyes at how much she "praised" the Kazekage. "Hn, he can't be that great." He was now having second thoughts about if he should apologize to the "Great" Kazekage Gaara.

"You would be surprised." She stopped when she noticed the disgusted expression on his face. "Why are you so upset all of a sudden?"

He turned his head away. "I'm not upset. I just don't think that he can be so great," he finished off. He might have started to despise Gaara, and he didn't know why.

Sakura was a little confused and was about to respond when she heard a familiar voice coming from outside the gates. They both turned their heads.

"Wait up Lee! I'm going to collapse if I don't stop!" Tenten exclaimed as she slowly jogged her way to the entrance. Sure enough, Lee was running in front of her and reached the entrance in a few seconds, jogging in place.

"Nonsense Tenten! We must embrace the power of youth!" Lee exclaimed.

Sasuke was a little surprised at the sudden interruption and he started to see how Lee's and Tenten's appearances had changed.

Tenten was wearing a white, sleeveless, high collared qipao with red trimmings. On the left side of it was a pale red flame pattern. Her hair was in two buns which met in the back to turn into a braid. There were two scrolls on her back and there was also a black scroll on each of her arms and she wore them like bracelets. Sasuke had only talked to her once or twice in all the time they've known each other and he guessed she was sort of a tomboy.

Lee had not changed much. He still wore a green jumpsuit and orange leg warmers along with the tape he had from his elbows to his fingers. His hair style, a bowl cut, was the same along with his bushy eyebrows. The only big change was that instead of having the green flak jacket, he now wore a dark green chest guard with shoulder pads with high collars. Rock Lee had always been more of a rival to Sasuke than anything else. His looks matched his sensei's, Might Gai. He was basically another Gai sensei with his looks and energy. Sasuke thought he was kind of weird.

Lee saw Sakura and immediately ran over. "Hello Sakura! How have you been?"

"Hello Lee. I'm good. So you and Tenten finally finished your mission?"

Lee was about to answer when he saw who was standing beside her and gasped. He ran over to Sasuke and stopped in front of him.

"Sasuke Uchiha! It is certainly wonderful to see you again!"

"Hn, Lee."

Tenten had reached the entrance and leaned over, putting her hands on her knees. Sakura went over to help their exhausted comrade.

"Thanks Sakura," she said as Sakura put Tenten's arm over her shoulder and they began to walk towards Lee and Sasuke. She gasped for air as she explained what happened. "Lee ran all the way here without a break and I was trying to keep up. Something about embracing the power of youth again."

Tenten had been shocked when she saw the Uchiha. "Hey Sasuke. I haven't seen you in a long time," she said, still gasping for air.

"Hn, Tenten."

Sakura turned her attention back to Tenten. "Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"

"No, I just need to catch my breath," she responded and sat down.

Lee walked over to Sakura and started to speak. "Sakura, as you know, we are having the festival here in a few weeks."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. _"So he still has a crush on her." _He was beginning to get irritated.

Lee continued, "And I would like to ask if you would accompany me to the festival?"

Tenten got up as Sakura blushed. It was Sasuke, however, that answered for her.

"She can't. She's already going with me."

Lee looked taken aback. Tenten had a suspicious smile on her face and she elbowed Sakura a few times, raising her eyebrows each time.

"It's not like that," she whispered to Tenten.

A shocked Lee spoke up. "Well, that's great, I guess... Maybe next time! Um, I have to go and visit Gai sensei. Are you coming Tenten?"

"Are you kidding me?! It's three in the morning Lee! I'll go visit Gai sensei later, I'm exhausted," she answered.

"Okay then! I will go alone!" The taijutsu specialist said before running off. They could see him crying some, too.

"Maybe I should go and talk to him," Sakura said while scratching her head.

Tenten grabbed her shoulder as she started walking in Lee's direction. "Oh please! He'll get over it sooner or later. I'm gonna go home and get some sleep." Before she walked off she whispered to Sakura, "I hope you two have fun! Don't get too crazy though."

Sakura tried to punch her, but she ran off laughing. _"I'm going to kill her later..." _she thought to herself. She turned to Sasuke. "You know I could have told him in a nicer way."

"Hn, whatever," he responded.

She sighed, "So what now?"

"You should go home and go back to sleep," he said boredly.

"Where are you going?" she asked, worry starting to come back to her.

"I'm going to the training field to practice my jutsu. I can't be embarrassed like I was yesterday," he added with a smirk.

"Then I'll go to judge," she said with a smirk of her own.

"I'm not carrying you back to the apartment if you fall asleep," he said as they started walking.

"That's fine. It's not like I expect you to anyway. Besides, if I fall asleep, that just means that you're pretty boring."

"Is that the best comeback you could think of?"

"Do you have anything better?"

"Hn!"

"So original," she said mockingly.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Both of them were thinking about each other the whole way there. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't push each other out of their minds.

When they arrived, Sakura sat down against a tree and relaxed while Sasuke immediately went to work. After he put on his bandana, he started with the fireball jutsu.

Sakura watched him quietly as he performed the jutsu over and over, each time improving slightly. She couldn't help but admire his looks. As she had been telling herself ever since he came back, the Uchiha's features only seemed to get better with time. She hadn't noticed that she had begun to stare.

Sasuke glanced over and noticed her stare. For some reason, it made him want to work even harder than he already was. He decided that this time, the fireball would be the best one he had ever created. The sudden rush of confidence in him made sure that he was right. Making the hand signs once again, he performed the jutsu. Collapsing to his knees from the massive effort, he watched as the gigantic fireball went into the sky with amazing speed. A pleased smirk appeared when he heard the gasp behind him.

"Be careful or you'll start a forest fire," she said as he turned around. "You should take a break," she added.

He sat down in the middle of the field to catch his breath. He'd never tried that hard on a fireball before, so he started to wonder what had come over him. Something about her watching him made him extremely determined. After a few more minutes, he stood up and wondered what to do now. Looking back towards Sakura, he noticed that she was starting to nod off.

The need to get her attention took over. "Already going to sleep?" She looked at him and he continued. "Am I really that boring?"

"No, I'm just really tired," she responded with a yawn.

Sasuke was slightly relieved to hear that. He pulled out his chokuto and took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He opened them the next instant to see lightning coming from the sword and he chose about five trees for his plans. Now it was a test of speed and he wasn't going to use the Rinnegan.

Sakura tried to open her eyes now. This was going to be interesting and she waited to see what he was going to do. A few seconds later, he began.

Moving like a flash, he headed towards the first tree. However, as soon as he started to move, the thoughts of previous events came back to him, filling him with rage and a foreign feeling. The insults the two men threw at him and his comrades came first. He reached the tree and put all his effort into destroying it. Landing on the ground, he listened to it separate into multiple pieces and smirked with delight as he moved on to the second tree.

Sakura looked in wonder at how many pieces the tree had been cut into in a matter of a second. She turned her gaze towards him and noticed that something was off. He was gritting his teeth to the point that they might shatter and the Sharingan had appeared.

Then the second and third trees fell with his thoughts on Lee asking her to go to the festival with him and how "amazing" Gaara was. Sakura got up when she saw how tight he was gripping the sword. Now, the lightning that was emitting from the sword became brighter. The fourth tree went down with one strike and he was dissatisfied with how it was still mainly in one piece. How much Naruto had mocked him the day before came back to his thoughts. In a matter of a couple seconds, the fallen tree had been split into about a hundred pieces. He turned toward the final tree and launched himself at it. Only swiping at it once, he landed on the ground and looked back in confusion to see that the tree was still standing.

Sakura looked on in confusion, too. Not because the tree had still been standing, but because he had completely missed it. Did he do that on purpose? The look of anger on his face proved her wrong.

Sasuke let out a growl of frustration. How could he have embarrassed himself like that again? Even more infuriating, how had he not even grazed the tree? He launched his chokuto into the ground beside him and threw his bandana next to it. Grabbing a handful of hair, he pulled at it and cursed himself. Then, every single thought that had been in his mind a few seconds ago came back to him, enraging him even further. Looking back at the tree, his teeth gritted, he lost what was left of his control and patience.

Moving his bangs back, he closed his right eye and focused his left on the tree. "Amaterasu!" he shouted as the tree erupted in black flames. Blood trickled from the eye and he let out a cry of pain. He quickly closed the eye and put his hand over it, but he was delighted at what he saw with his opened eye and he started to grin wickedly. A voice behind him shook him out of his thoughts.

"Sasuke, what are you doing?! You have to stop! Calm down!" Sakura shouted as she turned him around and shook his shoulders.

He quickly looked back at the tree and extinguished the flames. He fell to his hands and knees and she crouched beside him.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly.

He shook his head and stood up. He walked off the training field, leaving her crouching in the middle.

She turned her gaze from him to the tree. It was completely destroyed. A frown settled on her face.

* * *

The next few days passed without the two of them speaking of the incident at all. It was almost as if it had never happened. When Kakashi asked what happened, Sakura had told him that it was just part of Sasuke's training. He didn't believe her, but he decided to stay off of the subject for the time being. Over that time, Sasuke had stayed in the apartment, only leaving if the Hokage asked for him. When he was asked to go anywhere with the others and catch up with the ones he hadn't seen yet he would refuse every time, saying that he didn't fell like it.

Before they knew it, it was just over a week before the festival. It was almost time for the other nations to arrive.

* * *

He sat in the middle of the dark cave, waiting for one of the others to return.

"My Lord," one of his servants bowed, "it's almost time isn't it?"

He opened his eyes slightly. "Yes, almost. We will take action soon. I can not wait to see the Uchiha's blood on my hands. Of course, I will have to wait a little longer for that to happen. He's strong, but I will end him. I'm sure that he will remember me after our little chat a few years ago..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Just to be clear, the villain WILL be an OC. I'm sorry if my story summary made you think Orochimaru or something. I'll explain more about the villain in later chapters, and it will tell why my description says he's from THEIR pasts. I also apologize if I don't use Sasuke's Rinnegan a lot. The Rinnegan's powers are a little hard for me to understand so I don't want to write something stupid about it. Please review! Thanks for reading!


	6. First Arrival

**Author's Note: **Forgive me for terribly explaining everyone's attires and looks now. I'm doing my best to explain what they are wearing from The Last. Just imagine that when I explain their looks or if you don't know what I mean search for their The Last looks. I didn't put in Sasuke's poncho either because I just didn't want to.

* * *

Now, it was a week and two days before the festival and the other nations would be arriving soon. Sasuke had woken up each night to different terrible memories. He didn't know it, but each time he woke up, he woke Sakura up. She was starting to worry about him. Ever since the incident a few nights ago, he hardly talked to anyone unless he needed something. This morning when Sakura was woken up, she decided that she was going to make him talk.

Sasuke came out of the bathroom and was irritated to see that she was up again. He didn't say anything and sat down next to her on the couch.

"What's wrong with you?" she questioned.

He crossed his arms. "I don't know what you mean."

She narrowed her eyes. "You've woken up every night since you came back."

He widened his eyes slightly. How did she know that?! "Maybe I have. Why do you care?"

She was getting upset now. "I care because you're my friend."

"I shouldn't be," he mumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" She was just confused now.

Sasuke gave an annoyed growl. "Nothing! Just forget I said that. Go back to sleep."

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me something! You haven't told us, haven't told ME anything since you came back. I thought that we should give you time, but you've had three years Sasuke!"

He got up and walked to stand in front of where she sat. She stood up, too. He was apparently trying to intimidate her, but the kunoichi wasn't backing down.

Sakura was furious. "If you don't tell me anything because it's to 'protect' me, then you should know that I'm not some stupid little girl anymore."

Sasuke was slightly taken aback. "I never said that."

"Then why won't you tell me anything! What's the real reason?"

The Uchiha said nothing and stared at the floor.

"If you don't tell me something, then you have to come out of the apartment today," she said.

No response. She continued to wait but nothing came. Walking back to her room, she slammed the door behind her and sat on the bed.

Sasuke stood in the same spot where she had left him. He couldn't tell her anything. But why? Was she right? No, he never thought of her as some "stupid little girl". The part about protecting her though... All he wanted to do now was protect her. Not just the standard protection, he knew she could handle herself. The protection he wanted to give to her was safety from a certain person. From Sasuke Uchiha, from him. Never again could he hurt her the way he had already done. But was he causing her even more pain now?

* * *

It was about noon. Naruto and Sakura had basically dragged Sasuke out of the apartment. Sasuke and Sakura were currently not on speaking terms, so it was mainly just her and Naruto doing the talking.

"So did Hinata and the others get back safe?" she asked the Uzumaki.

He nodded happily. He was going to say something, but he started to notice the tension between his teammates. Silence had taken over the team as Naruto shifted his blue gaze between the other two. _"Wonder what's up with them..." _he thought to himself as he started to stare forward.

Just as he had fully turned his head to the front, Naruto and Sakura heard a cry of pain followed by a very loud curse word. They turned back to see a familiar large dog with his teeth deep in Sasuke's leg.

The crackle of lightning started when someone else began to shout.

"Akamaru, stop! It's okay!" A very exhausted Kiba Inuzuka screamed as he came into view.

The Inuzuka's companion quickly let go when he heard his owner's voice. He jogged over to Kiba and away from a livid Uchiha.

Kiba chuckled nervously. "Oh hey Sasuke. I heard you got back a few days ago. Sorry about Akamaru, he's been a little restless lately."

Sasuke had crouched down to examine his bleeding leg. He looked up, still furious, at Kiba and Akamaru. "Hn, Kiba."

Kiba breathed a small sigh of relief. _"Thank goodness he didn't try to kill me," _he thought to himself. As he finished his thoughts, the other members of his team came into view behind him. Hinata Hyuga, now Uzumaki, and Shino Aburame walked towards their comrades.

Naruto immediately beamed with joy. "Hey Hinata!" he called as he waved toward his wife. She blushed and waved back.

Sasuke looked at all of his past comrades. Kiba's hair was less spiky than usual and he had apparently started to grow facial hair, he guessed by seeing some on the Inuzuka's chin. He was also wearing fingerless gloves that came up halfway in between his elbows and wrists. The coat he wore was a little different than usual. His dog companion Akamaru had gotten even bigger than the last time Sasuke had seen the dog. Other than his size, he still looked the same.

The only reason Sasuke had remembered Shino Aburame was because of the fact that he had bugs living inside him. The image of the bugs helping Shino in battle came to mind. He was wearing a long coat with the hood up. What he could see under the hood was a pair of dark googles, or something of the sort, and his hair was almost shoulder length.

Hinata was wearing a light lavender blouse with dark navy blue shorts. Her blueish-black hair was now all the way down to her waist. Other than that, she hadn't changed to much.

"Hello Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke," Hinata greeted.

"Hn, Hinata, Shino," Sasuke responded, still looking at the bloody holes in his leg.

When the others greeted each other, Shino gave a small laugh.

"What's so funny?" Naruto asked.

"Oh, nothing. It's just that Sasuke remembered who I was and he's been gone for three years. You were gone for two and couldn't remember," the Aburame retorted.

As Naruto and Shino started to argue, with Hinata trying to break it up and Kiba snickering, Sakura made her way to Sasuke and crouched beside him. She slapped his hands away from the wound and green healing chakra appeared.

"Sakura, you don't have to-" he started.

"Just shut up and let me concentrate," she mumbled back to him.

"I'm sorry for this morning," he said.

She still didn't look at him. "It's fine." She wrapped a small bandage around the now small wound. "I'm sorry too."

"For what?" he asked as they stood up.

"For going off on you like that."

He didn't say anything else. She should not have to apologize to him for anything. Especially for something as simple as a small argument. He wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her until she promised to never say sorry to him again. Instead, he kept his silence.

Hinata had finally managed to shut Naruto up. She sighed. "So where were you guys heading?"

"No where in particular," Sakura answered.

"We were just about to meet with Shikamaru and Choji to see about the arrivals. Would you guys like to come?"

"Sounds great to me!" Naruto said.

"Since when do you like going to things where you have to pay attention?" Sasuke asked with a smirk.

"Hmph! Is there ever a time when you're not a jerk?" the Uzumaki shouted back, putting his hands behind his head.

They headed off and Sakura went to talk with Hinata. "I still don't see how you can put up with that all the time," she smiled.

Hinata laughed and glanced at her screaming husband. "It can get a little annoying sometimes, but I live with it."

"I thought Ino was supposed to be helping with arrivals too," Sakura said.

Hinata smiled. "Her and Sai are on a date. She said that she would come later." Hinata stopped when she saw the upset look on the pink haired kunoichi's face. "Is there something wrong?"

Sakura quickly smiled. "No, everything's fine. I'm just stressed about the arrivals is all."

"Why would you be worried about the arrivals?" Hinata asked, baffled.

The Haruno mentally face palmed. That was a terrible excuse. "Hinata, how did you feel about Naruto being completely oblivious to your feelings all those years?"

The former Hyuga looked back at a stoic Uchiha and back at Sakura. She was well aware of her feelings for him, and that Sasuke knew how she felt, too.

"We need a girl talk later. Me, you, Ino, and Tenten," she responded with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"What? Them to?" she asked with worry.

"Trust me," Hinata said, still smiling.

* * *

Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi had been patiently waiting for the others to arrive. The best friends chatted about this and that until the others had come into view.

Sasuke looked at Shikamaru and Choji. This was getting to be to many people. He wondered who else he'd have to get reacquainted with today. He frowned at the word reacquainted and turned his gaze back to the two comrades.

Shikamaru Nara had probably changed the least out of everyone Sasuke had seen so far. His dark hair was still pulled back into a tight ponytail, and his earrings were still the classic studs.

Choji Akimichi's attire remained pretty much the same. His hair, however, was now short and he had facial hair on his chin. The earrings he wore were also studs. He also looked to have lost some weight.

They reached their destination and everyone said their greetings. Sasuke was really starting to get annoyed by how many people he was forced to catch up with in one day.

"Hn, Shikamaru, Choji." He was grateful that they said a normal greeting and didn't ask any questions.

"Well," Shikamaru began, "I just got word from the Hokage that the Sand Village will be arriving today."

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. He wasn't prepared to speak to the Kazekage or his siblings today. That feeling that he had of despising Gaara had finally gone away. He still had no clue why he had gotten the feeling in the first place.

Choji spoke up. "We don't have to do much. We just have to greet them and all that. There's nothing to it." He turned to look at the Nara with a wide grin. "I bet Shikamaru is excited that they're the first to arrive. It's been about a month since you last saw Temari hasn't it?"

Everyone except for Sasuke turned to Shikamaru with a teasing look. He turned a light shade of red with embarrassment. "Why are you guys always teasing me about being in a relationship? Is it really worth it?"

Naruto laughed. "Oh c'mon Shikamaru we're just goofing around! Look at it this way, at least we can get girlfriends!"

The Nara gave a small smile. "Well, I guess if you put it that way. They won't be arriving until late this afternoon so we have some free time."

Choji immediately beamed. "What do you guys say we go to an all you can eat buffet for lunch?!"

The others nodded in agreement and Kiba started to go off on Naruto for the girlfriend comment. All of them started moving, but one.

Sasuke looked on. A frown came and he looked at the ground. He thought to himself. _"Look at them. All laughing and smiling. Why can't I be like that? Even Shikamaru, one of the laziest shinobi I know, is having a good time. Shino is actually showing emotion, too. I don't deserve friends like that. I don't deserve friends at all."_ He turned to go the other way when someone grabbed his wrist.

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked with concern.

"Go with them. I'll see you later," he finished. When he started to walk away again he was pulled back.

"Why aren't you coming with us?"

"I don't like being around that many people," he lied.

"That's one of the worst lies you've ever told," she smirked. "I'll ask you again. Why aren't you coming with us?"

"Why do I have to?" he questioned coldly.

She was slightly taken aback by his sudden mood change. "You don't. I just don't want you to be alone. Don't you ever get tired of it?"

He jerked his wrist away. "I'm used to it by now!" She took a few steps back and got ready to block. He was confused at first but he looked down to see that he had taken a few steps forward in the sudden outburst. Quickly withdrawing, he turned and stomped off.

Sakura watched as he stormed off, wondering what had happened. The Uchiha had been fine a few minutes ago. After pondering for a few minutes, she turned and walked in the direction the others had gone.

* * *

Sasuke had gone to the training grounds and laid down under the shade of a tree. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the cloudy sky. Closing his eyes and opening them every few minutes trying not to fall asleep, he questioned his actions.

_"I shouldn't have gone off on her like that. Why can't she just leave me alone though? Instead of worrying about me she should just keep to herself. No, what she should do is move on completely. Forget about me. All I can do is bring her pain and suffering. I want to stop doing that, but... it will just backfire on me if I try." _He sighed. _"What's wrong with me? I can't stop thinking and worrying about her. I'm the one who needs to stop. She can take care of herself."_

This went on for about an hour until he sensed a familiar chakra nearby.

"Sakura, I told you to go with the others," he said without opening his eyes.

Her response was throwing something at him, which he caught with his eyes still closed.

"Your welcome," she spat coldly, "And since when did you become my boss?"

Sasuke frowned and opened his eyes to see that what she threw at him was a tomato. He closed them again.

"We finished lunch anyway. I came to tell you that it's almost time for the Sand to get here."

"Then what was that for?" he asked as he quickly ate the food.

She sat down beside him. "I don't know. I'm just trying to be nice."

He didn't say anything so she started to tease him. "You've been letting your guard down pretty easily these last few days. I'd expect you not to be beaten so easily by Akamaru."

"Hn, excuse me for not looking out for gigantic dogs all the time."

She laughed. It sent a small burst of joy through Sasuke. He sat up and what happened when he did sent electricity shooting through both of them. He hadn't realized how close Sakura had been to him. As he sat almost all the way up, their lips had brushed against each other for a split second. Sakura immediately turned a dark shade of red and looked away. Sasuke's face had the color of the tomato he had just eaten.

Scratching his head, he quickly apologized. "That was my fault. Sorry about earlier, too."

"It's fine," she responded shakily. Getting off the subject as fast as she could, she quickly added, "Can you please stop apologizing? It's getting to be irritating."

"Don't tell me what to do," he retorted, also wanting to change the subject.

She smirked. "Looks like your attitude didn't change as much as I thought it had."

He returned the smirk. "Looks like you didn't get any less annoying."

She smiled. Once again, a pang of joy shot through Sasuke. They sat there for a few minutes without saying anything, enjoying the cool breeze. Sakura was the one who finally spoke up.

"We should get going. Are you still going to say something to Gaara?"

He quickly stood up. "I forgot all about that."

She stood up as well. "You shouldn't be worried. Just say sorry and move on."

"I'm not worried!" he shot back.

"Whatever you say," she said with a grin. They started walking and the whole way there, the only thing either of them thought about was their "kiss".

* * *

"Kakashi sensei, I thought you said they would be here soon!" A very enthusiastic Naruto shouted.

The Hokage looked up from his book. "Naruto I don't know exactly what time they'll get here."

Everyone from the rookie nine, sadly now eight, was standing at the entrance to the village along with a lot of other villagers and ninja.

Sasuke and Sakura were beside Naruto. They hadn't spoken since they left the field because of embarrassment and they were also busy wondering how they felt about it.

"Naruto, just be patient," Hinata said as she grabbed her husband's shoulder.

"I can't. I've got to challenge Gaara to a rematch!"

Ino spoke up. "They'll probably want to rest first. They've been traveling for days."

"The Kazekage also said that he would like to speak with me in my office as soon as they arrived," Kakashi added.

Akamaru barked excitedly a couple of times. Kiba sniffed and a smile came to his face. "Looks like Akamaru is right! Here they come!"

All of the villagers and shinobi turned their attention towards the gates. Sure enough, a gigantic swarm of people came into view. At the front was of course the Kazekage, followed by his siblings Kankuro and Temari.

Sasuke widened his eyes slightly at the Kazekage's current appearance. The huge gourd Gaara had used for his sand was gone. It had been replaced by a small gourd that was hanging off of his left side, attached to a brown belt. Both his shirt and pants were both crimson. His red hair had been neatly parted, the tattoo meaning "love" on the left of his forehead clearly visible.

Kankuro's attire and purple face paint had remained the same as the last time Sasuke had seen him. The scrolls he carried on his back for his puppets were the same as well. The hood had remained the same. Sasuke had been a little shocked to see how Kankuro looked without the hood and face paint. He'd only seen it once though.

Temari's appearance now resembles the one she had in their genin years. The biggest change was probably now she had bangs on her right side. She had black fingerless gloves and a purple shirt along with a dark blue skirt with a split in the middle, revealing leggings. Her huge fan was strapped to her back. So, he was right, not to different from the attire from her genin days.

They slowly made their way to the village entrance and when they reached it, they were immediately met by friends. Everyone ran to find someone they knew and catch up. Sasuke grabbed Sakura's hand and quickly pulled her to the side as a genin stampede made its way past them.

"Thanks."

"Hn," he responded as he let go of her hand. They looked around and saw Shikamaru and Temari sharing a hug. Kankuro was talking to Kiba, Shino, and Sai. They didn't see all of the others, but they did see Gaara talking with Naruto, Kakashi, and Hinata. Hinata looked to be apologizing for Naruto's "rematch" announcement. Sasuke turned his head as Sakura grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the Kazekage.

"Now?" he asked with worry.

"Why not?" she said as he tried to stop. Now it was her dragging him to the group. He didn't want to say anything to the leader of the sand village at the moment. Not in public.

"Naruto, I'm exhausted. But I'd still like to fight you again, so later," Gaara said after nodding to Hinata's apology.

Sakura stopped dragging him and pushed him forward. "Go ahead and get it over with!"

"Later." He started to retreat.

She gave an annoyed groan and grabbed him again, dragging him closer to the group. Kakashi was the first to notice and turned around. The others also started to turn and there was an audible gasp of shock from Gaara.

Sakura stopped beside Hinata and shoved him to the middle of the group. "Just hurry up and say it!"

Naruto laughed at the embarrassed Uchiha. Sasuke shot a menacing glare at the Uzumaki before firing one at Sakura. _"I swear I'm going to get her for this later."_

"Sasuke Uchiha," a visibly shocked Gaara said.

He turned to the Kazekage. "Hn, Gaara." He was smacked on the back of the head. He rubbed his neck and looked back at the attacker.

"Be respectful!" Sakura shouted. Naruto was using all his strength not to burst. Hinata elbowed him sharply. "You should be respectful to the Kazekage, too."

The women were both about to start lecturing them again when they heard a quick laugh. Gaara had a small smile on his face as Sasuke faced him again. "It's quite alright. I like being addressed as my regular name anyway. Sasuke, I know what you were about to say. Kakashi told me in his last letter."

He stopped talking and stepped forward to offer his hand. Sasuke's mouth opened widely along with his eyes. Gaara continued.

"There's no need for you to say anything. I've heard about your journey to make up for things you've done in your past and that is the only apology I need."

Sasuke closed his mouth and looked down at the open hand. Still puzzled, he took it and they shook.

Kakashi had been amused at the awkward look on the Uchiha's face. He decided that it was time to spare Sasuke's pride though. "Well Gaara, should we go ahead and start towards my office?"

Gaara put put a serious look on his face and answered. "Yes. I think that we should talk as soon as possible."

They set off. Sasuke had not moved and was still bewildered at how easy that had been.

Sakura walked in front of him with a smile. "See! I told you that it wouldn't kill you."

He put on a frown and rolled his eyes.

* * *

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" the Hokage asked as he sat down. He nodded to Gaara to sit as well.

The Kazekage took his seat and spoke with a stern expression. "When we were coming towards the village yesterday, there was something strange. I'm not sure how to explain it. I think that I'm the only one who noticed though. It wasn't really my surrounding's appearance, it was more like..." He paused to find the right words. "More like the atmosphere. Maybe like something was watching us, something evil. I just wanted to caution you. We should be aware at the festival."

Kakashi now had a concerned expression. "Hmm... If you are sure that something might be wrong, then I will notify the ANBU. Cautioning the shinobi would be another good idea. I don't want to scare the regular villagers though."

Gaara nodded. "I think that would be the best choice."

Kakashi had begun to wonder._ "We have lived in peace over the last few years. I wonder what else could possibly be out there..."_

* * *

**Author's Note: **More terrible attire explanations. Oh well... Anyway I hope you enjoyed. Y u guys no review?! Thanks for reading! PLEASE review!


	7. Concern

**Author's Note: **So I guess this chapter has the most sasusaku so far. I'm going to try and update every Saturday. My school work is getting to be more and more but it shouldn't keep me from updating. Thanks for the follows and reviews! Please enjoy!

* * *

Sasuke had been trying to get comfortable for the last couple of hours. He could not sleep at all. Every time he tried, all he thought about was the "kiss". The short instant of when their lips had touched remained etched in his mind. After he looked up and saw that it was after one, he finally gave up. The Uchiha sat up and sighed. _"Well, at least I won't have to wake up because of a nightmare," _he thought to himself. _"Now what am I supposed to_ do?"

He thought about the events from earlier yesterday, trying to remember everything except for their "kiss". After his encounter with Gaara, he then went to Kankuro and Temari. They had also, reluctantly by the looks of it, told him not to apologize. The two sand siblings told him they trusted him not to do anything as stupid as before. After that, they acted cool around him.

So it seems they had fully forgiven him, too. Honestly, it frustrated him that everyone was forgiving him so easily. They had just added on to his frustration. After seeing and hearing how much Gaara had changed, he didn't take it as a big surprise that he had forgiven him so easily. But Kankuro and Temari? Sasuke had expected them to make him get on his knees and beg.

With a low growl, he threw his head against the back of the couch and crossed his arms. Sasuke's thoughts drifted back to the "kiss". Narrowing his eyes at the ceiling, he wondered how he had felt during that short moment. The electricity that had shot its way through his body in the instant confused him. Never had he felt like that. That feeling was completely foreign to the Uchiha. It felt good, but where did it come from? Why did it come?

* * *

Sasuke had been on the roof of a random tower for about two hours. He knew that it was going to be impossible for him to sleep so he had gone outside and unconsciously wandered to the top of the tower. Enjoying the small gusts of cold wind, he sighed. Someone was approaching now and he wasn't surprised when he looked off the side to see who it was.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as he grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her up.

"I could ask you the same thing," she said as she settled down beside him.

"Couldn't sleep. You?"

She giggled. "I think you've got me into the habit of waking up this early."

"Hn."

"The view up here is gorgeous," she said with a smile.

Sasuke glanced at her, which turned into a stare. His mouth and eyes widened slightly. The way the moonlight reflected in her eyes. The way it made her skin glow. Her smile was so warm. _"She looks so beautiful..." _He started to move closer to her but he quickly stopped himself and looked away. _"Control yourself. Yes, she looks nice, but you shouldn't be doing anything like that." _

Sakura turned her head and saw his flustered expression. "Are you okay?" she asked with a frown.

"Hm?" he responded after being brought out of his thoughts. He quickly changed to have a stoic look. "I'm fine. I keep telling you not to worry about me."

"No matter what you say, that's not going to happen," she replied calmly.

"You shouldn't care about me at all. After everything I've done..." he trailed off. She became confused and it showed. Why was he saying this?

"Sasuke, you've already apologized to me."

His next outburst made her jump a little. "It shouldn't be that simple! I haven't earned anyone's forgiveness! Why do you and everyone else forgive me so easily?!" He waited for her answer with both hands digging into his hair and his teeth gritted.

She gently pulled his right hand down and entwined it with her left. He could only stare at her with wonder as she responded. "We've forgiven you because we know that you're sorry. You weren't thinking right, and you were lost."

His voice was barely a whisper. "But I tried to kill them..." He stopped and looked at her with extreme guilt and sorrow. "I tried to kill you..."

She shook her head. "I know. Ever since that moment, I was terrified. Not because you tried to do it, but because I was afraid that you had completely lost yourself."

He didn't know what to say. It felt uncomfortable, being at a loss for words. She hadn't been scared OF him, she had been scared FOR him.

"Sakura-"

"You don't have to say anything else. Like I said, I know that you're sorry." She paused and gave a quick laugh. "It's actually kind of funny, what happened after you left the bridge. That kunai I had was poisoned and Naruto passed out, right after you left, from the small cut on his cheek. After I removed it, we joked and laughed about it."

Sasuke was bewildered. "How can you do that? How can you forget about everything that happened there in an instant?"

"I don't know. Something about it just made us all move on and laugh. I guess it was because-," she stopped and thought for a minute.

"Because?" he asked with curiosity.

"I don't want you to get mad at me." She tried to let go of his hand.

"Leave it. And I won't get angry."

She did as he said and left their hands entwined before speaking. "I guess it was because I wasn't alone."

His eyes narrowed slightly. She was right. He had been alone with no one to guide him. His mind had been poisoned by Tobi. He wouldn't listen to his friends because his mind had been set on revenge.

What he did next even shocked him a little, but he quickly just went along with it. "Sakura?"

"Hm?" she turned towards him. A gasp escaped from her as he tapped the purple mark he loved so much on her forehead.

He gave a small smile. "Thank you." The smile got bigger the more she blushed.

"Quit it! You're just making it worse!" she shouted as she continued to turn red.

He laughed quietly as he removed his fingers.

She couldn't help herself. She launched herself at him and embraced him in a huge hug. "You're welcome."

He was still grinning when he moved one hand and rubbed her back.

* * *

Now, it was six days before the festival. All of the other villages arrived the previous day. When the Cloud came, tensions were a little high between Sasuke and Choji's girlfriend, Karui. About a year before, Sasuke had gone to the Cloud and made amends with the Raikage and the rest. His first punishment, or at least that's what Sasuke considered it, was listening to Killer Bee rap for a concert that only he heard. Bee said that it was his way of showing that they were now cool. After that, Sasuke had willingly done long hours of work for the village and its people. Karui was the last one to accept his forgiveness. Even the Raikage, Darui, and Omoi had accepted him long before. Sasuke hadn't been surprised though. Before he left, Sakura told him that Karui had nearly beaten Naruto to death because of Sasuke being involved in Bee's disappearance.

Anyway, when they had arrived Bee had grabbed his shoulder and asked how he had been. Karui had just rolled her eyes and said a reluctant greeting to him. Nothing to really worry about. The Raikage had nodded. Omoi and Darui had copied Bee and asked him how things had been. Naruto was pretty baffled and asked what he had done to make them his "best friends".

The other Kage had also said a respectful greeting. Sasuke had done work for them as well.

Most of the current day had been setting up for the festival and catching up with friends. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura decided to go to the training field and they all had their mouths gaped in unison when they arrived. Tons of people from a variety of villages were already engaged in their own matches.

"Looks like it did in the Forest of Death," Naruto declared.

"No kidding," Sakura added.

They walked to a nearby tree and set their stuff down under its shade.

"Alright, Sasuke! Sakura has already kicked your butt and now it's my turn!" Naruto shouted excitedly.

Sasuke smirked as he put his bandana on. "Hn, you won't get as close as she was to beating me."

"We'll see about that!"

Sakura smiled and sat down. "Both of you shut up and settle it on the battlefield."

Naruto grinned and gave her a thumbs up before running to an open area with Sasuke close behind.

The Kazekage had been watching and came up to them. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be the judge of this match."

Sasuke's smirk returned. "Hn, I don't mind. It'll be over quickly."

"Yeah," Naruto spat back, "and I'm gonna be the one standing tall!"

Gaara looked back and forth between the two and waited for their nods. When both were ready he shouted, "Begin!"

Immediately after, Naruto attacked first. Sakura had been smiling as she watched her two friends battle it out. It had only been about five minutes before everyone else postponed their matches to watch the fight between the best friends. Everyone from the Konohagakure rookie group was watching, as were the other sand siblings. The battle raged on for another twenty minutes. Neither of them looked to be ready to give. Both were exhausted though. Sakura knew that both of them were determined to get the better of each other, especially with so many people watching. Both bloody and battered, stopped at a distance from each other.

Sakura had begun to get agitated. It only got worse as she realized both were about to use their signature moves. Sasuke's Chidori came into view. Naruto's Rasengan quickly followed. They started to sprint toward each other and gasps and cheers came from the massive crowd.

"They can't be this stupid," Sakura whispered to herself. They didn't stop, still running full speed towards each other. Her heart was pounding and it got to be to much.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke opened their eyes and waited, neither moving. Gaara walked over and judged. Both the Rasengan and Chidori were as close as possible to their opponent's face. The crowd had silenced and were eagerly waiting for the call. The Kazekage looked it over for another minute or so and walked to the front of the crowd. Naruto and Sasuke lowered their arms and their signatures disappeared.

"The winner of the battle is," Gaara paused. The crowd didn't make a sound. It was so quiet that you could hear everyone's individual breathing.

"Sasuke Uchiha!"

Half of the crowd erupted in cheers, half in sighs of disappointment. They even saw quite a few people exchanging money or items. The fight had been so intense that people were betting.

"No way! Gaara you are such a cheater!" An upset Uzumaki shouted.

"Nope. I saw it clear as day, too. Sasuke won," Shikamaru added.

"After I'm healed, I want my rematch with you!" Naruto shouted at Gaara.

Sasuke smirked and turned around, wanting to see the look on a certain someone's face. Breathing heavily, he narrowed his eyes and frowned in confusion and disappointment. She wasn't there. He looked around and didn't see any sign of her. He could not sense her chakra anywhere nearby either.

"Later Naruto. I have to settle some business with the other Kage," Gaara responded.

"Why didn't you do that instead of coming here?! If you ask me, I think that you're afraid to fight me," Naruto screamed back.

Sasuke started to limp towards the tree where they had set their things down. Tons of his fan girls blocked him. They started asking for autographs and all of them trying to touch him. It was getting really irritating now. He pushed past most of them as fast as he could. More and more got in his way and he had reached his limit.

"Move!" he shouted as his eye turned red. They immediately broke apart to allow him space to get through. Slowly making his way to the tree, people started to give him more death stares after the outburst. He could care less at the moment. The Uchiha reached his destination and noticed that Sakura's stuff was not there. Quickly grabbing his bag, he set out for the apartment.

The door was unlocked, of course. To his dismay, she was not there. He set his bag down and began to worry. Removing his bandana, he sat and waited for a few minutes. No one came so he got up and made his way to the door. The pain in his leg was getting to be to much to bear, but he made his way through town anyway. Nothing.

Next, he went to the hospital. The person at the front desk said she had not seen her at all today. When he got outside, he climbed his way up to her office, wincing at the growing pain. Nothing.

It had been about an hour now since he had started looking for her. It was also beginning to get dark. Desperation was slowly taking over. Now he quickened his pace and jumped from the rooftops towards the Hokage's office. He began to grunt in pain as he landed on each roof, which led to him silently cursing himself.

Knocking on the door, Sasuke breathed heavily again because of the massive effort he was making. Blood was still dripping from multiple wounds he had suffered. Kakashi told him to enter and he was in the office in an instant. The Hokage widened his eyes in surprise at his former student's current appearance.

"Has Sakura been here?" he asked through pained gasps.

"Sasuke what happened to you?" Kakashi stood up.

Sasuke slammed his fists down onto the Hokage's desk and raised his voice. "Has she been here?!"

"No I haven't seen her today. Calm down," Kakashi quickly answered. "Now tell me what happened," he added.

The Uchiha did his best to calm down and lower his voice. "Naruto and I had a practice match. She was there when we started but she wasn't when we finished."

The Hatake's focus went to keeping Sasuke calm. "I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about. She probably just went to Ino's or something."

"Ino was there."

"Okay, maybe she went to the store."

"I've looked through the busy streets. She isn't at the apartment."

"Maybe she's at Ino's house now."

Sasuke was getting livid and he couldn't stop himself from yelling again. "How can you be so calm?! I can't find her anywhere!"

"Sasuke, I will tell you once again to calm down. She can't be anywhere outside the village because we've stepped up our security for the festival. ANBU are stationed at every point outside the village. Just go to the hospital and get healed. If she isn't at the apartment by the time you're back, then I'll send a squad to search for her."

"No. I'm not going anywhere until I find her." He stomped out of the office and slammed the door.

Kakashi sighed and sat down, turning to look out of the window. He could already see Sasuke hopping from the rooftops.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn Sasuke?" he said to himself. If there really was something wrong, then he could handle it without the Uchiha. Thinking back to what Naruto said a few days ago and what Sasuke had just said, he began to ponder.

_"I wonder. Could Naruto have been right? Sasuke has been acting different when he's around Sakura lately. He seemed extremely worried, too. It's almost weird to think that he may have had a change of heart towards her. I just have to watch and see."_

* * *

Sasuke hopped on the rooftops around the village for a second time, frantically searching for any sign of his pink haired teammate. He gave up on the rooftops and jumped down in the middle of a street. Walking quickly, stares fired at the bloody and battered Uchiha. He was more concerned with finding Sakura at the moment and he just ignored them. He walked around the village for another hour with no luck. It was really dark now, the storm clouds were moving in, and Sasuke was getting desperate. Luck was on his side though, and he turned when he heard a conversation that might help him.

"Hey did you see the Haruno girl come through here earlier?" He grabbed some alcohol and chugged it down as his friend answered.

The shorter man put his drink down and answered. "Yes. She looked real upset about something. We should of told her to come over here with us. Hehehe, I could've made her feel better if you know what I mean."

They started to laugh but stopped almost immediately as the shorter man was picked up and slammed into the wall next to them. He struggled with no luck as his dangling feet kicked out towards the attacker.

"Hey man! What's wrong with you?!" The other man shouted as he got up and moved towards his friend. He froze in mid step as a red eye glared back at him.

Sasuke turned his head back to the shorter man. "Where is she?" he growled through gritted teeth.

"I don't know what you're talking about man!" he shakily shouted.

Sasuke had put his bandana back on in the time he had allowed the two men to converse. The man squirmed even more when he saw who it was that attacked him. Sasuke spoke. "The Haruno girl. The one you were just talking about."

Red and purple eyes bore into green. The man stuttered. "P-Please d-d-don't hurt m-me!"

Sasuke moved closer. "I won't if you answer my question. If you don't answer, then I'll burn you alive."

The man whimpered as the Mangekyo Sharingan came into view. "Okay! Okay! We saw her walk through here earlier!"

Sasuke moved back. "Which way did she go?"

The man pointed in the direction behind him. "That's all I know! I swear!"

Sasuke let the man go, but didn't move. The man started getting angry. "I told you everything. Let me go!"

Sasuke's eye returned to normal and he smirked. "I will, but you shouldn't be drinking so much." He grabbed the full bottle the man hadn't touched yet. "Consider this me doing you a favor."

Sasuke stepped back and smashed the glass bottle over the man's head, alcohol spattering everywhere, knocking him unconscious. His friend's mouth dropped as he made his way to the unconscious man.

Sasuke started sprinting in the direction the man had pointed in. The Yamanaka flower shop was this way. The pain in his body seemed to have subsided due to his determination.

He burst through the front of the shop, surprising Ino, who had been at the counter. Sai was also there.

"Oh, Sasuke! You scared me. How come you didn't get treated after your match with Naruto?"

He quickly walked to the counter and explained. "Ino listen. Did you see Sakura when you came back to this shop?"

"I haven't seen Forehead all day. What's wrong? Did something happen to her?"

"No, I just really need to find her. What about you?" He turned to Sai.

"I haven't seen ugly today either." This earned him a glare from the disgruntled Uchiha. He was about to speak again when Ino stomped on his toe. She hadn't turned her head from Sasuke, and she moved her foot when her boyfriend closed his mouth.

"Sorry, Sasuke. I hope you find Sakura though," Ino replied.

He said his farewells and exited the shop. He was about ready to give up. He headed back to the apartment. Maybe she had come back. Hopefully.

* * *

Sasuke walked up the steps to the third floor. It had started to rain and he was exhausted. Opening the door, he traveled to her bedroom to find her there, sitting on the bottom part of the window. He was extremely upset with her and he started to shout.

"Where did you!-" he stopped when he saw the traumatized look she gave him out of the corner of her eye. All the angry feelings he had built up turned to guilt and sorrow. She turned her gaze back to the heavy rain outside. He stood where he had been for another minute. Slowly making his way to the window, he never looked away from her. Sitting down on the opposite end, he let the left side of his head rest against the glass.

They looked outside at the rain for the next few minutes. He turned his head back to hers and put on a frown. "Sakura, what's wrong?" He reached his hand out to touch her but she quickly slapped it away.

"It's nothing you should worry about. I should heal you before the wounds get worse."

"No. Tell me what's wrong. Why did you leave the field?" His voice was full of concern.

She moved so that she was facing him. "I told you that it doesn't concern you. Let me heal you."

"I will if you tell me what's bothering you after you're done."

She sighed. "Fine."

Sasuke sat down on the floor and took his shirt along with his bandana off. When she was done with his upper body she moved to the worst wound he had, which was in his lower left leg. He let out a sigh of relief as the pain finally stopped. When he opened his eyes, he saw that she was moving to the spot on his head. She gently pulled his bangs out of the way, setting them behind his ear. Touching the spot with her healing chakra, it began to close up. He could not take his eyes away from hers. She was doing her best to avoid eye contact with him. When Sakura finished, she moved his bangs back to their original spot. Sasuke put his shirt back on and stood up, pulling her up with him. He took her hand and led her to the living room, making her sit beside him on the couch. She still refused to look at him. He put his right hand on her cheek, turning her so that she was facing him.

"Tell me what's wrong," he whispered.

She shoved his hand off of her and sighed again. "When you and Naruto were fighting, you both used your signature moves."

He narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"I thought that you were actually going to do it. All that I could remember was both of you on the ground bleeding to death. I try to shut that image out of my mind everytime it pops up. This time it was different though. It wouldn't go away and I thought of how worried I was that both of you were dead."

The realization had sent a wave of regret surging through him. He didn't think about it until now, but he put himself in her shoes and imagined what it would be like to see two of your friends bleeding to death, or possibly even dead already. "Sakura I'm sorry. I didn't realize."

"Like I said, it's fine. You shouldn't have to worry about how one person feels about a stupid jutsu."

"No. I've already hurt you so much. Knowing that I'm still hurting you hurts me. And you think my jutsu is stupid?" he added with a small smirk. Obviously, he was trying to change the subject to cheer her up. Seeing her in pain because of him gave Sasuke a sickening feeling.

"Tch. No, I think that your jutsu is pretty cool. It's more than I could ever do. You aren't hurting me Sasuke. It just brought back a bad memory, that's all."

"A memory that was my fault. And there you go doubting yourself again! I'd give anything to have monster strength like you, you know. I've even heard that Tsunade has said you've surpassed her. She said that you're now the best medic in the village and probably ever."

Sakura beamed. "Lady Tsunade said that?! Where did you hear that?"

He shifted in his seat. "A lot of people have told me."

She smiled. "Since when have you ever been this..." She struggled to find the right word. "This nice, I guess you could say."

He rolled his eyes. "Hn, there's a lot of sides of mine that you haven't seen. We're not in public so I guess I can ACT nice."

She playfully punched his shoulder. "There's a side I know very well, the jerk one." She yawned.

He motioned for her to come closer. She did as he implied and asked him a question. "What do you want from me now?"

His smirk returned as he put his arm around her, making her come even closer. "Shut up and go to sleep."

She rolled her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder. She tried to hide her amusement and confusion caused by his actions. "Fine, but if you wake me up again you're a dead man."

"Hn, believe me, I wouldn't risk it."

It only took her a few more minutes to drift into a deep sleep. He silently watched her, enjoying the heat of her body against his. Sasuke sat there for what seemed like forever, his gaze never leaving her. The raven haired male looked outside the window to see that it was still raining. Reluctantly, he picked her up, walked to her room, and set her down in her bed. He put the covers up to her chin and made his way back to the couch.

He had to get some sleep tonight. Exhaustion had finally taken its toll. He sighed and closed his eyes, knowing that there were horrible memories or nightmares awaiting him. However, this time he hoped that he didn't wake Sakura up. He took her death threat seriously. Even though she wouldn't actually kill him, she would probably make him have a nice, long stay at the hospital.

* * *

The kunai smacked into the wall of the cave. That was followed by five more.

"I'm getting restless Boss!" the man shouted.

"So am I," the other man he referred to as Boss, in the middle of the cave replied. "You will get some action soon enough. As will I and the rest of us. Just be patient. I'm going to make the first move though. You have no idea the amount of restraint that I am using right now. To have the last Uchiha at my feet, begging for mercy, is what I desire."

A sinister laugh echoed through the walls of the cave.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I tried to add more sasusaku in this chapter, so I hope you liked it. We are approaching the festival! Revealing my OC main villain will come soon, too! I'm doing a bit of research for his character as well. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the follows! Please review! P.S. I promise you that I read all of the reviews and sorry that I don't reply!


	8. Forcing His Feelings

**Author's** **Note: **Let me warn you that this chapter is a little cheesy. I want to lighten the mood a little before things start getting really serious. That's why I tried to make this chapter a little more humorous. Sorry for my terrible sense of humor! Enjoy!

* * *

FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE FESTIVAL

"Naruto, why did you want to see me?" The Hokage asked.

The Uzumaki stood in front of the Hatake's desk and had a suspicious smile. He started to laugh quietly.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Kakashi sensei, have you noticed that Sasuke's been acting strange?"

"Well Naruto, a lot can happen in three years. So it's not strange to me if you consider that fact," he replied, still curious at what the war hero was implying.

Naruto growled impatiently and put his hands on the desk. "That's not what I meant! He's still a huge jerk! I meant, have you noticed that he acts strange around Sakura?"

The Hokage frowned with his eyes. _"Oh boy. I wonder where this is heading." _He leaned back in his chair and spoke. "I don't know. I guess, but you have to stop and think that maybe he's just trying to be nice to her. Maybe it's his way of thanking her for letting him stay at her apartment."

"Oh come on Kakashi sensei! You saw how he reacted when we met those guys yesterday."

Kakashi recalled yesterday's events.

* * *

YESTERDAY

Team 7 had gone around the village with each other most of the day. They had forced Sasuke to go shopping with them at some of the festival stores that had already been set up. This one in particular sold fireworks and other small explosives. Naruto had been shouting excitedly the whole way there about getting some fireworks.

"I can't wait to shoot them off! I bet Hinata will love it!"

Sasuke looked back at his best friend. "Do you even know how to do it?"

The spiky haired male laughed nervously. "Not really. I can figure it out sooner or later though!"

The Uchiha turned his gaze forward. "Tell Hinata to be ready for a fire."

The Uzumaki was about to fire back when Kakashi spoke. "Naruto, please be sure that you know what you're doing when you use them."

He put his hands behind his head and didn't say anything else.

Sakura was the next to speak. "Sasuke, after this we should go to-"

"No! I'm not shopping for clothes anymore. We've already gotten me about ten shirts and pairs of pants today," Sasuke interrupted.

"I just thought you might like a different color than black," she retorted.

He frowned. "Hn, anything dark works."

Naruto jumped forward and put one arm around each of his teammates. "You two fight just like a couple," he said with a smile.

They both pushed him off and said simultaneously, "It's not like that!" After that, they both turned red and looked away before the other noticed.

Kakashi was interested in the situation but before he could think, they arrived.

Naruto immediately ran to the fireworks while Kakashi went to the man at the counter and asked for something. Sasuke wasn't really interested, so he decided to follow Sakura around. The shop was a lot bigger than any of them imagined, and they had to keep weaving around many groups of ecstatic genin. It wasn't just genin; many other shinobi and even ordinary villagers were browsing as well. They made their way to the fireworks and watched as Naruto struggled to choose which ones he wanted.

"Should I get a few big ones or a lot of small ones?" he pondered aloud.

Sakura walked over to the Uzumaki. "Hey, what about that one up there?"

Naruto beamed in excitement. Sasuke looked up to see a gigantic firework on one of the highest shelves. It was as big as a medium sized dog.

"Whoa, it says that it splits and turns into multiple fireworks when it's in the air," Naruto said excitedly.

Kakashi had walked over to his former students and tried to see what they were looking at. He widened his eyes in surprise at the sight.

"I have to have that one!" Naruto exclaimed as he started to climb the shelves.

Sakura pulled him down. "Don't do that or you'll hurt yourself! I'll go and ask the man at the counter for you."

"Thanks Sakura!" he said as she walked off.

"What do you think?" he asked Sasuke as he came to stand beside him.

Sasuke smirked. "Hn, I think that we should arrange for a funeral soon."

"Sasuke you-" he stopped and they both turned when they heard a large group of ninja from the Rain Village laughing. Kakashi was standing a short distance away from his former students and could also hear the group, so he turned, too.

The tallest one, who was still about half a foot shorter than Sasuke, was apparently the one causing the scene.

"That girl is so hot. What's she doing hanging around a bunch of losers like them?"

Naruto clenched his fists and Sasuke frowned.

A different man spoke. "Why don't you ask her to come with us? There's plenty to go around."

The Uzumaki gritted his teeth and the Uchiha narrowed his eyes.

The shortest of the group spoke. "Who said anything about asking? If she says no we'll just wait outside."

The tallest spoke again. "Let's take her some place real nice." Everyone laughed again.

Naruto had had enough. "That's it," he growled, "I'm gonna kick all of their-"

Sasuke had interrupted his friend by shoving past him. Kakashi walked over and stopped beside Naruto.

The Uchiha stood in front of the tallest man with his arms crossed. "Is there a problem?" he asked casually.

"No, there aint no problem here. Get lost," the tallest responded.

"Really? I could have sworn that I heard you talking about someone I know."

The tall man stepped closer. "Well you must have heard wrong then. I thought I told you to get lost." He took out some money and threw it at Sasuke. "Go get yourself a haircut while you're at it."

Sasuke was completely calm and wasn't intimidated one bit. As they all laughed, he let his right eye change colors.

Everyone stopped laughing except for the tall man. "That's so scary. You have the Sharingan. Hehehe you must be the last Uchiha then."

Sasuke didn't speak. He kept his cool and continued to stare the man down.

"Well if you'll excuse me, I have a girl to go grab." As soon as he moved, Sasuke was in his way again. He'd never let this guy even get another look at Sakura.

"She's taken," Sasuke said. That had come out of no where. He didn't mean to say that, but since they were going to the festival together, he guessed that meant she was taken.

Naruto and Kakashi had been looking on quietly. They both raised their eyebrows in surprise when they heard Sasuke's abrupt statement. Sharing a quick glance, they turned their attention back to the brewing storm.

The man gave a small laugh. "Really tough guy? And who might she be taken by?"

"Me," Sasuke responded, still completely unmoved by the man's taunts.

The shortest walked up and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I wouldn't mess around with this Uchiha. I hear he has the Rinnegan in the eye behind his bangs. Don't forget the Sharingan either."

He pushed the hand off of his shoulder. "You think I'm scared of a few colorful eyes?"

Sasuke smirked. "Hn, I'd listen to your friend. I also take it that you've never seen another Uchiha before? Anyway, these 'colorful eyes' are quite powerful."

"Oh really? I'd like to see just how powerful they are then!"

A quick punch came towards Sasuke's face. He caught the fist with his prosthetic hand without moving his gaze.

The others in the group gasped in awe. "I didn't even see him move he was so fast!"

The one who threw the punch grunted in pain when he heard the cracking coming from his captured fist. He dropped to his knees as Sasuke shifted his gaze downward, making it seem effortless. The man's eyes widened in terror as he saw the blood red of the Uchiha's right eye. The other shinobi were to scared to help their friend and watched helplessly as Sasuke slowly lifted his right hand. It stopped a foot above the man's head. Black flames came into view and a short whimper escaped from the terrified shinobi.

Suddenly, Sasuke let go of his hand and let the flames engulf the male. He made sure only to burn his clothes though, not wanting to take it too far.

Naruto and Kakashi were already beside Sasuke, grabbing him and telling him to stop. The Uchiha shook them off and made the flames disappear. The only clothing left on the man was his underwear now. "I suggest that if that's all you want to be burned, you should leave," Sasuke calmly commanded.

The tall man immediately ran out of the shop, followed by the others from the group.

"You can back up now. I wasn't going to kill him," Sasuke said as his eye returned to its onyx color.

They did as he said, both still bewildered. Naruto spoke up. "When you said that she taken... by you, did you mean-," he stopped when Kakashi gave him a warning look.

They were both baffled when Sasuke didn't turn around and try to beat his best friend. Instead, he replied with complete indifference. "We're just going to the festival together. That's all."

Kakashi and Naruto shared another glance, trying to decide who was more confused about everything that had happened in the last few minutes.

"Naruto!" Sakura said while she motioned for him to come back to the fireworks section.

He quickly put on a smile and jogged back, with his grey haired sensei coming at a slower pace. Sasuke was still for a minute, waiting to see if those fools would come back. When he realized that he had completed his mission, he turned and weaved through displays, making his way to the rest of the original Team 7. He walked up just in time to see an employee handing the huge rocket to Naruto.

"Oh man! I can't wait to shoot this off!" the Uzumaki eagerly shouted as he took the rocket.

"You better make sure that your wife knows when you're going to use it," Kakashi warned.

"Yeah, yeah, sure Kakashi sensei," Naruto retorted as he made his way to the counter to pay.

"He's going to end up killing himself or someone else," Sasuke said as they followed.

Sakura grinned. "He's not as dumb as he used to be," she replied jokingly.

The Uchiha scoffed. "I find that really hard to believe."

Kakashi let a small laugh escape. "You'd be surprised Sasuke."

They arrived at the counter and watched as their friend emptied his wallet.

"Naruto, do you really think that it's worth it to spend all your money on one rocket?" Sakura asked.

"You were the one who pointed it out!" he retorted as he finished paying and they headed out the door.

"I didn't know that it would cost you that much," she spat back.

The rest of that day was just Team 7 hanging out. It had honestly been one of their best days together, at least that's how they all, even Sasuke, felt. However, the Uchiha was extremely reluctant to leave the Haruno's side for the rest of the day. Naruto was taking it as a "sign". Meanwhile, Kakashi had chosen to just let it be.

* * *

The Hokage returned his thoughts to the present. "Naruto, you were probably going to do the same thing as Sasuke."

"Well yeah! I wouldn't let them talk about any of my friends like that! But did you ever think Sasuke of all people would do that?!"

Kakashi sighed. "I've already told you once that a lot can happen in three years. What's wrong with Sasuke standing up for his friends?"

Naruto was getting really irritated. "Gah! This is Sasuke Uchiha we're talking about! I don't think that there's anything wrong with it! I'm just saying that it's weird! After that, he didn't leave her side once! Don't even think about telling me that he wasn't staring at her most of the time either! I think that there's definitely something going on between them!"

Now it was Kakashi's turn to get irritated. "First of all, stop shouting. Second of all, before you mention it, they said they were going to the festival as friends. And third of all, if there really is something happening between them, don't mess around with them."

"Fine!" Naruto stomped out of the room, but couldn't help but give an evil grin. He definitely had something planned. What he didn't realize was that Kakashi had caught the grin from the corner of his eye.

* * *

"What did you summon me for Kakashi?" Gaara asked when he entered the Hokage's office.

"Sit down, this might take some time to explain," Kakashi replied. He told the Kazekage of what Naruto's plans might be for Sasuke and Sakura. When he finished, the Sand shinobi was confused as to what was so important about it.

"Well that's all very interesting," he started with curiosity, "but how does it concern me?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to tail him for the next day or so. It's just until his 'plan' has been put into action."

The Kazekage was completely lost now. "Um, why exactly do you want ME to do it?"

"I think that you're the best choice to keep another war from happening."

Gaara was more than lost now. Kakashi noticed and explained further. "As you've probably noticed, Sasuke has quite a temper. Especially when it comes to situations like this and even more so when Naruto's the one cornering him."

"So you want me to prevent them from fighting then?"

"Well, more like annihilating each other. Also, if you do it, I can cover for you if there's anything important that you need to do."

"Um, I guess I can do it then. It shouldn't be too hard," Gaara replied.

Kakashi laughed nervously. "Oh, no. It shouldn't be hard at all. If you'll excuse me, I have some important business to take care of."

Before the Kazekage could say anything else, the Hatake disappeared, leaving behind a large puff of smoke.

Gaara walked out of the office, bewildered at what had just happened. _"Does he really think that it could get that bad? If he needs me to watch and make sure nothing happens... What did I just get myself into?" _He continued to wonder to himself as he started to look for Naruto.

* * *

THREE DAYS BEFORE THE FESTIVAL

Sasuke yawned as he and Sakura made their way through the streets. It was late in the evening and it was already dark outside. Last night had been another sleepless one, filled with horrible memories and nightmares. The only thing that kept him awake was his longing to keep other men away from Sakura. After the incident a few days ago, he made sure to always be close by her side. He was completely confident that she could take care of herself, but he wasn't going to take any risks. The only bad part about always being by her side was that it meant more shopping. By now he had a whole closet full of clothes and he was wearing some of his new ones right now. He was dressed head to toe in black, wearing a plain long sleeve shirt and baggy pants.

"Where should we go now?" she asked him.

"Hn, I don't care as long as it's not shopping again," he replied after a huge yawn.

"Okay, how about we get you a haircut?" she retorted teasingly.

"No way!" he immediately yelled back.

"I'm just kidding. Besides, I think you look more attractive with bangs." As soon as the words escaped her mouth, she regretted it.

He turned his head toward her. "You do?"

Sakura quickly turned away, trying not to let him notice her blush. "Uh, yeah!" she said shakily.

Sasuke directed his gaze forward again, smirking with content.

A familar laugh came from behind them. They stopped walking and looked back to see Naruto, followed by Kiba, who for some reason didn't have Akamaru with him, Kankuro, Gaara, Sai, Hinata, Ino, Tenten, and Temari.

The girls started whispering to each other as they met in the middle.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Naruto asked with a giant grin.

"Nothing much," Sakura said.

"Sakura, do you remember what we talked about the other day?" Hinata asked.

"Right now?!" she asked with a small hint of worry.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. What are they talking about?

"Alright Forehead, we're heading to the hot springs and you're coming with us whether you like it or not!" Ino yelled as she grabbed her best friend's arm.

"Let go of me Ino Pig!" Sakura shouted back while pulling her arm away. "I was going to come anyway. I could use some time to relax."

Sasuke was slightly taken aback. Then, Naruto told him to come to the hot springs with the guys. The only reason he accepted was because he could at least be nearby if something went wrong.

The girls had already started heading towards the destination and were far ahead of the guys. For now, they left Sakura alone. At first she thought that Hinata hadn't told them anything yet. To her dismay, Ino began to bombard her with questions.

"Okay Forehead, spill it. What's been going on between you two?" she asked, clearly implying Sasuke.

"I've already told you that it's nothing Pig!" Sakura yelled back. Why did they have to talk about this now? She looked back to see that the guys were too far away to hear, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Tenten was showing a grin. "Oh, come on Sakura. I remember how quick he was to put Lee down a few days ago."

Sakura was about to defend again when Temari interrupted. "We should wait until we get ot the spring to intimidate her," she said jokingly.

Sakura gave Temari a grateful look and wondered how they would corner her soon.

Meanwhile, the guys hadn't bothered Sasuke yet. Gaara was wondering what he had gotten himself into. He had never agreed to have a "guys night out" with them. However, his main focus was on the current conversation, making sure that bloodshed wouldn't happen soon.

Sasuke glanced at Gaara and noticed the dreadful look on his face. _"He obviously doesn't want to come either. The only reason I'm going is to make sure that there aren't anymore stalkers like those idiots at that explosives shop. I never imagined HE would agree to anything like this. Something's definitely going on," _he wondered to himself.

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto started, "we'll let you go out first. I'm pretty sure you don't want us to laugh at your-"

The Uzumaki was interrupted by a giant strip of sand slamming onto his mouth. He kept walking and frantically pulling at it with no luck. The Kazekage's gaze traveled to the Uchiha. Sasuke rolled his eyes and a frown was present on his facial features. Gaara let the sand travel back to his gourd and sighed. He was worrying for no reason at the moment; what he was really there for was to stop a murder from happening when Naruto started questioning Sasuke about his "personal affairs".

Kankuro and Kiba had been snickering at Naruto and started to tease him. Sai had been smiling at the scene and joined in on teasing the Uzumaki. Sasuke thought he had figured out why Gaara was there. To stop fighting from happening, but why? This happened on a regular basis between him and his best friend. Why was anyone worried about something as irrelevant as this?

* * *

Sakura was the first to get in. Luckily, it looked like they were the only ones on the girl's side. At least they would be talking without anyone else knowing. Ino was the next to come out and she quickly ran into the water and made her way to her best friend.

"Okay Forehead, you can't dodge the question now! What's been happening between you and Uchiha?"

She was getting really annoyed and was about to start chewing Ino out when Temari made her way out of the room where you leave your clothes and belongings. "Give her a break Ino. I thought you really wanted to tell us about your last date with Sai anyway."

Ino slapped both of her hands on top of the water. "Oh my gosh! You're right." She moved away into the middle of the water and started telling, in detail, about the date. Temari was trying her best to look interested. She was trying to spare Sakura some time. When Ino had found out about her having some "love issues", she had demanded to come. They were going to ask her anyway, but Temari knew right away that she would get right to the point with Sakura.

Ino had gotten halfway through the story when Hinata and Tenten made their way out to their friends. Thankfully, Ino stopped talking and moved on to another topic.

"We're all here now!" She turned to Sakura and asked her once again what was happening.

Sakura had given up on protesting, knowing that she was eventually going to have to answer. "I honestly don't even know what to say," she said, starting the conversation.

Hinata spoke next. "When you asked me how I felt about Naruto not knowing how I thought about him all that time, I think I knew how you were feeling. But Sasuke knows how you feel about him, doesn't he?"

"Yes. I don't want to bother him though," Sakura said.

Temari let out a short laugh. "Sakura, after everything he's done to you and everyone else, I think you have the right to bother him a little. Besides, seeing as how he actually tried to apologize to me and Kankuro, I think that he would agree with me in saying that you have that right."

She frowned. "Well, I guess you're right. He keeps telling me not worry about bothering him because of that reason."

"Then there you go! He should be grateful that you're still willing to like him after everything anyway!" Temari stated.

Tenten smiled. "Temari is absolutely right! If anything, he should be the one confessing to you."

Sakura blushed lightly. "I don't know about confessing. I can't force him to like me back."

Tenten laughed. "What were you two doing up at three in the morning a few days ago then? Also, when Lee asked you to the festival, Sasuke was pretty quick to say that you were going with him."

Ino gasped. "You're going to the festival together?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because we're just going as friends Pig!"

Hinata grinned. "Did he ask you?"

"Well," she stuttered, "yes."

"Forehead, first you have one of the sexiest men alive living with you. Then, he asks you to the festival. If that isn't a sign then what is? Don't tell Sai I said that first part," she added.

Before Sakura could curse at her friend, Hinata butted in. "I think it's pretty sweet. Even if it isn't in a romantic way."

The others agreed, except for Ino. "By the way, he came into the flower shop a couple of days ago. It was a few hours after the match between him and Naruto. He asked if I had seen you and he was really worried."

"Really?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

"Yup. And if you don't believe me, then just ask Sai. He was there, too," Ino finished.

Temari got into the conversation again. "I think that he's just so full of pride that he doesn't realize how he really feels. Uchiha has always been that way."

"I can believe the part about him being full of pride, but do any of you honestly think that he likes me that way?" The others looked at each other and when they turned back to Sakura all of them nodded. She couldn't believe they all thought that.

Tenten snickered. "Since when did you learn so much about that kind of stuff Temari?"

The kunoichi from the Sand scoffed. "Oh I don't know. Maybe because I'm actually in a relationship!"

Tenten put both of her hands up in protest. "Hey, I'm single and I'm proud." An evil grin appeared on her face. "Speaking of you being in a relationship, how's it going with you and Shikamaru?"

Temari became extremely flustered. She didn't like discussing her relationship, even if it was just with the girls. "I thought we were talking about her!" she desperately claimed, pointing to the Haruno.

Tenten smirked. "We did. Now it's your turn!"

While the others began to pester Temari, Sakura pondered to herself about the recent conversation. How could they possibly think that Sasuke Uchiha liked her in that way? They were apparently seeing something that she was completely ignorant about. Ino said that he looked really worried about her when she left the field. It was hard to believe at first, but then she remembered that he had started to yell at her when he found her. It had only been a few words before he silenced himself, but it did seem like he'd been worried. She pushed the thought of him liking her as more than a friend to the back of her mind. It was impossible to believe that it was true.

* * *

Sasuke was in his own corner of the spring. He sank low so that all you could see was his head down to chin. He had made sure that he was the first one out; not wanting to be the butt of Naruto's stupid jokes. Gaara had been the next to arrive, concealing himself with sand from the gourd until he had been completely covered by the water. The Kazekage had also sunken low and waded to his own corner. Kiba, Kankuro, who was not sporting any face paint, and Sai were next to come and they were carrying out a long conversation.

Gaara was extremely embarrassed. Not only was he naked in public, but the fact that he had agreed to this was truly humiliating. At least they were the only ones in there and Naruto wasn't out yet. He glanced at his gourd, which was beside him on the edge of a rock. Most likely, he was going to need it soon if Kakashi was right.

The guys stopped what they were doing and turned to look at the entrance when they heard an excited scream. Naruto Uzumaki ran out and jumped in next to Sai. The former ANBU laughed lightly.

"What's so funny Sai?" Naruto asked with complete annoyance.

He stopped laughing and smiled. "It looks like I was right when I said you didn't have any b-"

"SHUT UP SAI! MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS FOR ONCE!" the Uzumaki angrily interrupted.

No one said anything for the next couple of minutes. The war hero was the one to break the silence.

"So Sasuke," he started with a suspicious tone. Gaara's attention was focused on the upcoming conversation.

"What's been going on in your life lately?" he asked as he slung his arm around his teammate. The Uchiha quickly pushed him off.

"If you do that again, your wife will start to question your preferences," he said with as much venom as possible.

"Just answer the question!" his best friend spat back.

Sasuke frowned. "Hn, why do you care?"

The others came closer to hear the argument. Gaara also moved closer, and he guessed by the looks on the other's faces that they were in on it, too. He gave Kankuro a pleading look, basically warning him not to help Naruto. Kankuro waded towards his little brother and told him what the troublesome Uzumaki was doing.

"He told us that he was gonna make Sasuke tell him something important. I don't know anything else though," the puppet master explained.

Gaara turned his gaze back to the growing storm.

"I just want to know how you and Sakura are doing. You ARE living together, aren't you?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "We're fine. And you know that we are." Now he understood why the Kazekage was there. He was there to prevent bloodshed in probably the next few minutes. Naruto wouldn't stop with his theory that something was happening between him and Sakura. Now that he understood completely, he knew what was coming and it would be easier to keep his calm, no matter how far he'd push it.

Naruto put on a suspicious grin. "So you two have been real close recently then?"

He had expected this question. "If we live in the same apartment then why wouldn't we be close?"

Naruto was getting irritated. _"So it looks like he's already figured out what I'm trying to do." _He did some more thinking.

"Is that so? You've been a little protective of her lately. Why's that?" he pushed further.

Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes at his friend's stupidity. He wasn't going to get anything out of this. "She's my friend. Why wouldn't I be protective?"

Naruto pondered, trying to think of a question that the Uchiha couldn't counter, but nothing came. "I guess you're right." One question popped into his head that might work. Then again, if it did work, he might end up dead.

Naruto took a deep breath. "Have you thought about getting a girlfriend yet? I mean, isn't one of your goals to revive your clan, or as I like to call it 'make Uchiha babies'?"

That was a question Sasuke wasn't prepared for. His expression became flustered and Naruto knew that it had worked. A few of the others held their breath, waiting for an explosion or something. Gaara's sand floated around him; he was ready for anything.

Sasuke had become really angry. Not just at the question, but more at everyone's expressions. Did they really think that he was this insecure? Instead of the springs erupting in flames like everyone expected, he answered calmly, expertly hiding all of his rage.

"Not really. I'll get to it eventually. But if I were you Naruto, I wouldn't be concerned so much about my love life. First of all, I'm not really your type. Second of all, Hinata would be pretty upset."

Everyone else started to laugh except for Gaara, who breathed a sigh of relief as he let his sand travel back to the gourd.

Naruto growled in frustration. Not only had Sasuke ruined his plans, but he had also humiliated him in the process. "Sasuke, you're so gonna get it later!"

After everyone settled down, Kiba made an announcement that wasn't very shocking, knowing him. "I'm gonna go take a peek. Anyone else wanna come with?"

Sai asked, "What is that?"

Kiba snickered. "Oh, it's pretty amazing. I'll explain on the way."

Sai got out and Kankuro was about to follow but his brother stopped him. "First of all Kankuro, I'd hate to think that you would participate in such vulgar activites. Second of all, what do you think Temari would do if she found out or saw you?"

Kankuro shivered. "I completely forgot she was over there. I'll pass."

Kiba was instigating again. "Why aren't you coming Naruto? Would you rather stay here with Sasuke?"

Naruto immediately jumped out of the water. "No way!" His defense quickly turned to worry. "What if Hinata sees us?!"

"Oh come on! They won't know anything."

They started walking. "That's easy for you to say! You aren't married to her!"

Sasuke and Gaara were both thinking the same thing. "Immature perverts," they said in unison.

"I guess this is our chance to escape," Sasuke said as he climbed out and made his way back to the changing room. Gaara followed but Kankuro stayed where he was.

After they had gotten dressed and gathered their things, the Kazekage started a conversation.

"I guess you've figured out the reason I was there. I'd like to apologize."

Ignoring his annoyance at the apology, Sasuke replied. "I knew that you'd never agree to anything like this willingly."

A small smile crept its way onto the Kazekage's lips. "Kakashi put me up to it. He apparently had a conversation with Naruto that made him worry about the outcome of today."

"Hmph! The dobe won't leave me alone about it, just because I'm living with her. And honestly, if you hadn't come, then I wouldn't have figured it out sooner. In that case, he'd probably be dead." Sasuke was ready to be alone now. He hoped that this explanation would finish his part of their conversation.

Gaara realized the Uchiha's intentions and tried to end their chat. "Well, at least I prevented any bloodshed." They set out for the main entrance. When they arrived, they were both waiting for a few of the others. Sasuke for Sakura, and Gaara for Kankuro and Temari. The two shinobi stood there for a few minutes, neither speaking. Then, loud screams could be heard and about half a minute later, Kankuro came from the spring, fully dressed, and collapsed to the ground laughing. Gaara and Sasuke shared a glance. Both knew exactly what had happened before Kankuro explained.

After catching his breath, the sand sibling spoke through enormous laughs. "I went to see if they were really doing it," he stopped to laugh some more. "The first thing I see is Kiba being pulled over the fence by Tenten. Apparently the girls already knew because they had their towels on. Then, Naruto and Sai got it. It was hilarious!"

A few seconds later, the girls, who still only had their towels on, were dragging all of the "peeping toms", who surprisingly were also wearing their towels, into the room. Ino came first, dragging Sai, followed by Tenten, who had Kiba, and Hinata with Naruto. Temari and Sakura came last, both looking as infuriated as the other women.

Gaara and Sasuke quickly helped an amused Kankuro to his feet and moved out of the way, not wanting to suffer the same fate as their comrades were about to. To all three of them, nothing was worse than an angry kunoichi. The women turned to look at them. The males gulped and held their breath, but the girls turned their attention back to their catch. They breathed a sigh of relief. So they had decided to spare them, apparently agreeing that they were innocent.

Naruto was pleading with his upset wife. "Hinata, Kiba made me do it!"

Sai also butted in to help himself and Naruto. "Yes, Naruto is right! I didn't know what the term meant!"

Ino was the one to fire back first. "I don't give a crap if you were forced or not!"

Temari put on a giant smirk. "What do you gals say we teach these little perverts a lesson?" The kunoichi nodded in agreement and cracked their knuckles. The males widened their eyes and waited for the worst. Sasuke quickly escaped the scene and headed to the apartment as the wrath of the kunoichi began.

* * *

Sakura closed the door and set her things down on the table. Sasuke had been lying on the couch and he opened his eyes when he heard the door.

"How long are they going to be in the hospital?" he asked.

She frowned. "Sadly, they aren't going at all. Gaara stopped it before it got too ugly. Not before we all got in some hits though."

He smirked and closed his eyes again. They said their good nights and she closed the door to her room. For some reason, he had felt a small wave of pride rush over him when he heard the outcome of the whole situation.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So I guess this chapter was filler. Oh well, everyone has those chapters. Anyway, I took this as a chance for a "calm before the storm" type moment. The next chapter will be REALLY important though, for two reasons. I bet all of you can guess without me telling. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading! Thanks for the follows! Please review!


	9. The Festival

**Author's Note: **I apologize for the length of this chapter. But, it IS one of the most important ones so of course it's a lot longer. I guess one part in this chapter goes into a VERY slight AU. You'll know what part I'm talking about when you get there. I'm not really sure though since nothing about them has really been confirmed. Oh well! It's nothing to worry about! Also, this has been my favorite chapter to write so far. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

"It's time!" The words echoed through the cave as cheers and excited shouts began to fill the cave as well.

* * *

_He was back in the Final Valley. Sasuke __watched__ as a different Sasuke and Naruto launched themselves at each other. The impact made most of their surroundings shake and crumble. The other Sasuke had been the victor and watched as Naruto crawled in front of him. The real him was frozen in place, screaming at the other to stop. He was ignoring the pleas and grabbed Naruto by the neck, lifting him off of his feet. Lightning formed in his hand and he looked at the other him with an evil smile._

_"This is all we will ever be! Why can't you accept that!?" He launched his hand through Naruto's heart. _

_"No!" the real Sasuke screamed._

_ When the other him removed his hand, he disappeared and the real Sasuke took his place. He quickly turned around and closed his eyes, not wanting to see his best friend's lifeless body. It started to rain and he opened his eyes and looked up. He was fighting the urge to scream in agony. Why? Why couldn't he stop that side of him from killing his best friend? The Uchiha turned back again, still looking up at the sky. He could not look down, no, would not look down. The rain grew heavier and a sharp spark of pain went through his shoulder. He grabbed the shoulder and grunted, falling to his hands and knees. He couldn't help it anymore, he had to open his eyes. Knowing that Naruto's head was right below his, he slowly began to open them. _

_Sasuke gasped and his mouth and eyes widened to the point where it hurt. His heart stopped. The person below him was not Naruto. It was Sakura._

* * *

"Sasuke, wake up!" Sakura yelled as he continued to thrash around in his sleep.

"No!" he shouted as he shot up, covered from head to toe in cold sweat. His head turned to Sakura and he grabbed her shoulders tightly. "You're okay?!" he asked in disbelief.

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked as he loosened his grip.

He narrowed his eyes in confusion and looked around. He noticed that he was no longer in the Final Valley; he was back in the apartment. It was just a nightmare. Cursing himself silently, he removed his hands and stood up to go to the bathroom and lock himself in there. Sakura got in his way and put her hands on his chest to stop him from moving any further. He only stopped because of the shock of the electricity shooting through him on contact.

"Are you okay?" she asked with concern.

Getting over his shock, he shoved her away and attempted to move past once more.

She grabbed his wrist and forced him to turn around. "I take that as a no. Please tell me something," she begged.

He pulled away from her grasp. "It doesn't concern you!" he spat coldly.

She stood taken aback at the mood swing while he locked the bathroom door. Every night he woke up like this. Whenever she asked him if he was okay, he did not answer. Sasuke had not told her anything, not just about what was wrong, but about everything else. Nothing about his journey. Nothing about the first time he left. Nothing about what was bothering him. Nothing.

The confused kunoichi looked at the clock. It was half past five in the morning. She smiled in excitement. Today was the day. The day of the festival.

* * *

Sasuke came out of the bathroom and saw that Sakura had gotten dressed in her regular attire. Her hand was on the door handle and his eyes widened in alarm.

"Where are you going?" he asked in an icy tone.

"Out. Why do you care?" she responded, sounding just as icy as he had been.

Trying to calm himself, Sasuke took a deep breath and lowered his voice. "It's early. You shouldn't got out by yourself." In truth, he was still concerned about some more perverts showing up. He could not forget about the incident a few days ago.

She was clearly annoyed at him constantly insisting on staying by her side. "I'll be fine. I can handle myself you know."

By the time she finished her statement and turned around, he had already put on a fresh pair of pants. He pulled his shirt off and grabbed another, slipping it on as he walked to the door. He threw on his vest, stuffing the bandana inside, and grabbed his chokuto.

"Hn, I know," he said as they walked out.

"Then why have you been within five feet of me at all times?" she asked while they made their way down the stairs. No answer. Not that she was surprised. They walked in silence throughout the village, looking to find a festival shop that was worth while. Sasuke was mainly looking in the dark corners for any sign of stalkers. If anything happened to Sakura on his watch, he would never forgive himself. Then again, he still hadn't forgiven himself for anything he'd done to her prior to his return.

Sakura was extremely annoyed with him at the moment. Sasuke kept looking around like a war would break out at any second. What is he so uptight about? Then, she looked for something she could test him with. She spotted a festival store she knew that he'd hate and put on an evil grin. Changing her course, she looked from the corner of her eye to see Sasuke close behind.

Sasuke glanced inside to see that it was a men's clothing store. He stopped and groaned. "I already have enough clothes, Sakura."

The real test was about to start. If he came in after this, then something was definitely up. "Maybe I'm not looking at them for you," she said, hiding the teasing manner.

His eyes widened in surprise and anger. _"What other man could she possibly be buying for?!" _He screamed in his head. When she started to walk in, he was right behind her, looking for any man he could destroy. After meeting the idiots at the explosives shop a few days ago, Sasuke had decided that all men were dumb perverts, and he wouldn't hesitate to kill any man that came near Sakura.

After she noticed how close he was, she decided that something was definitely up. Turning around and pushing past him, she heard an audible huff of annoyance from the Uchiha.

"What was that about?!" he angrily whispered as he caught up to her.

"I was going to look for something that Hinata might like to get for Naruto," she lied. "I changed my mind."

The raven haired male narrowed his eyes. That was it?! He calmed himself as he realized that it was just for Naruto though. "Hn."

Annoyance was an understatement to what Sakura was feeling. First, he wasn't telling her anything. Now, he wouldn't leave her alone. Normally, she'd love to spend time with Sasuke Uchiha, but when he was acting like this, it annoyed the crap out of her.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"Nothing. You're the one who has a problem," he spat back.

"Excuse me for wanting personal space. You haven't left my side since we left the explosives shop a few days ago."

Seeing as how she was clearly mad at him for this, he wanted to make it seem like he was just teasing her. Sasuke wanted to keep the incident from a few days ago a secret. He was most likely going to regret this sooner or later, but who knows, he might end up enjoying her reaction. Taking a deep breath and looking around to make sure no one was watching, he put on his best smirk.

"Hn, I thought you of all people would like me close all the time," he teased. She immediately turned red and quickened her pace. His smirk got bigger and became real. He had confirmed the fact that he was really going to enjoy her reaction, and looked around one last time before catching up to her. Sasuke wrapped both of his arms around her waist and rested his head on her left shoulder. She stopped walking and tried to turn, but she froze when he kissed her cheek. Boy, was she confused and her face went blood red. He started to laugh and she became even more flustered.

"Get off me! You're all sweaty!" she shouted as she pushed him off. He was still laughing quietly when she turned to face him. He stopped when she grabbed his arm and began pulling him.

"There's definitely something wrong with you. I'm taking you to the hospital," she finished.

The amused Uchiha pulled away. "I'm fine. I'm just playing around," he said with a smirk still set on his face.

She attempted to grab his arm again, but he stepped back. "I told you I'm just joking."

"That's exactly why I'm taking you! You've never joked once in your life," she said as she attempted another grab. This time it was him who caught her. He slid his hands up to her shoulders and said, "There's a lot you still don't know about me."

That set her off. How could she possibly know if he didn't tell her anything?! Embarrassment quickly turned to anger as she gave him a menacing glare. The smirk he had turned into a frown. "No kidding," she angrily whispered as she slapped his hands away and stomped off.

Sasuke watched her leave in confusion. Why had she suddenly gotten mad again? He started to follow when she called back to him.

"Don't even think about following me!" she shouted over her shoulder. Sasuke stopped in his tracks and decided it was best to listen to her. Ignoring the urge to follow, he turned and walked the opposite way.

_"Did I say something wrong?" _he thought to himself as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

* * *

Sasuke had wandered around the village for a while, looking at nothing in particular. He had finally convinced himself that if any pervert bothered Sakura, she'd destroy the man herself. Lots of couples were out and about now, not to mention everyone else. Glancing through shops as he walked past, one of them caught his eye. This one was made for couples, and he saw them all laughing, hugging, and kissing. A feeling that had sometimes crossed his mind came back again. It was so foreign that he couldn't describe it, but whenever the feeling came, he thought of her, of Sakura. Pushing it to the back of his mind, an object on one of the display shelves captured his attention.

* * *

Sakura held the package in her hands as she made her way to the graveyard. It had become a tradition for the hosting village to pay their respects to the ones who had lost their lives during the war. For her though, this wasn't just about the ones who had died during the war.

Her first stop was Neji Hyuga's grave. After stuffing the package in the bag on her hip, she sighed in annoyance when she realized that Sasuke was stalking her again. "What?"

He walked up beside her with his hands shoved in his pockets. Looking down at the grave he asked, "How come you're here?"

"It's a tradition for the hosting village to pay their respects to the fallen on the day of the festival." She stopped and looked around at the other people who were there. Kurenai was placing flowers on Asuma Sarutobi's grave. She looked back down.

"Hn. My parents aren't buried here," he replied. He didn't explain further as they walked around. They spotted a familiar face at one of the graves and walked over to him. Naruto Uzumaki was standing at one that said Kushina Uzumaki and Minato Namikaze, his parents. A sad smile was set on his face when he turned and waved to his teammates.

"So you guys are here already, too," he said.

"Yeah. We've already been to Neji's and a few other's graves," Sakura replied.

"What about you Sasuke?" Naruto asked with a saddened expression.

"My parents aren't buried here," he repeated. This was probably one of the only times that Sasuke and Naruto would willingly get along.

"Oh, sorry I didn't know," the Uzumaki said as he turned back to his parent's grave. No one spoke as they stared at the names printed on the stone. A thought popped into Naruto's head, but he was a little reluctant to ask. "Hey Sakura, have you been to-"

"No, not yet," she interrupted. "Where's Hinata?"

"She said she would come here later. She was waiting for her father to arrive," he paused and laughed quietly. "I think she's finally gotten over the thing at the hot springs. I'm real sorry about that, by the way."

Sakura rolled her eyes and a small smile crept its way onto her lips. "I'm over it, too. You dumb pervert."

Sasuke was a little concerned at why she had interrupted Naruto. Who had she not been too yet?

"If it's okay, can I come with you guys Sakura?" Naruto asked with sympathy. She nodded and Sasuke was still wondering why they seemed even more sorrowful than before. Not long after, he got his answer. Team 7 had walked to one of the graves that looked to be more recent than the others. The Uchiha stopped and gasped in disbelief at the names written. Naruto turned and looked at him in confusion. He frowned and thought, _"She didn't tell him..."_

Kizashi Haruno and Mebuki Haruno were the names written, her parents. Sakura looked down with great sorrow in her eyes and a small frown. Her teammates walked up behind her with sad looks on their faces, too. Sasuke felt like the worst man in the universe at the moment. Why hadn't she told him? When did this happen? Naruto gave Sakura a look that was asking for an okay to explain. She nodded and continued to look down. The Uzumaki glanced at Sasuke and nodded to a spot behind them, basically telling him to follow.

Naruto began to explain with sadness filling his voice. "About a year after you left, a large group of rogue ninja came to the village. They attacked with no good reason at all, only to hear their victim's screams of pain. Hinata, Sakura, and I had been out together when they came. Me and Hinata got seperated from Sakura and they were everywhere. The largest group of them had attacked her though, and managed to seperate her from most of our forces. She'd killed most of them, but then the leader of all the rogues came after her. She was hurt real bad and she knew that there was no chance for her to hold him off for long. Sakura tried anyway, and it worked. But... just before help could arrive, she had been paralyzed by one of his moves and he was about to land the killing blow when her parents came out of no where. They both took the blow for her. Sakura told me that they said something to her before they died, but it's to painful for her to talk about. Anyway, help arrived right after she watched them die. Sakura's blamed herself ever since." He glanced back at her with a sad smile and he shook his head. "Somehow though, she's managed to stay herself through it all. I don't see how she does it. Sakura is really awesome."

Sasuke looked at her with pride. Naruto was right, Sakura is pretty awesome in many ways. This had come as a real shock to him though. It was almost as if it had never happened. She never looked saddened and she was usually happy around him. Amazing was the only word to describe it. He still wondered why she hadn't told him. Remembering the object he had bought at the shop earlier, he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at Naruto.

"Don't laugh at me for this," he warned. "It's still not like that."

Naruto looked at the object and smiled with amusement. "I won't laugh, but I still think something's happening."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and made his way to the pink haired kunoichi. Taking a deep breath, he tapped her shoulder. She turned around and gasped with surprise, her cheeks filling with color.

"I saw this earlier today and thought you might like it," he explained, trying to sound like it wasn't a big deal. He held the necklace in the palm of his hand. It had a silver chain with a small cherry blossom on the end that was made with diamonds. She slowly took it and held it up.

"Sasuke it's beautiful," she responded, almost at a complete loss for words.

"Look at the back," he replied, sounding completely casual.

Naruto's smile grew larger at Sasuke's obsession with trying to show no emotion. He knew that Sasuke cared deeply for her, even if he never admitted it. Heck, Sasuke would never admit that he cared for anyone, but Naruto could see that the way he cared for Sakura was different.

She turned it over and put a hand to her mouth. Sasuke was highly amused at her reaction, but he wasn't going to show it. On the back of the necklace, "Sakura Haruno" had been engraved into the diamonds. She closed the hand with the necklace and embraced him in a huge hug. He didn't move and looked around with an embarrassed expression. Naruto was smiling so big that it looked like he had a surgery that went horribly wrong.

"People are starting to stare," he said with annoyance. She let go of him and put the necklace on.

"Thank you Sasuke. I love it," she said with a huge grin. "How much did it cost?"

"Hn, a lot."

"You shouldn't have spent your money on me."

"Just shut up and be glad that I saw it."

Still smiling, she watched as Naruto walked over with his hands behind his head. "Oh, that's right! I almost forgot," she said as she reached for the package in her bag. While she was busy, Naruto stared at Sasuke with a suspicious smile. He repeatedly raised his eyebrows at Sasuke and before the Uchiha could punch him, Sakura had pulled out the large package.

"It's for you." She handed it to Sasuke. Naruto was full of amusement at the scene. Sasuke looked up. "Sakura, you didn't have to-"

The Haruno growled with impatience. "Just open it!"

He did as she said and his mouth opened slightly. A hoodless black cloak with no spot for sleeves and the Uchiha crest in full view on the back was in the package. He took it out and tried it on. It went down to the top of his ankles, which was his preferable size. It hid his chokuto completely and it was a nice feature. Honestly, this was his favorite type of cloak and he had wanted one for a long time now.

"Thank you," he said. Naruto screamed in frustration and slapped Sasuke's back.

"That's it?! Thank you?! Give her a hug or kiss her or something!" he shouted.

Sakura blushed lightly. "It's fine Naruto. He doesn't have to thank me at all."

Naruto frowned and crossed his arms. "Sasuke you are such an ungrateful tem-"

He was cut off by a hard kick to the gut from the Uchiha. "I'm an ungrateful what?"

Naruto stood up. "You're an ungrateful t-!"

Sakura punched both of them in the stomach. Both males winced in pain as she removed her fists. "Can you two get along for five minutes?"

They both stood up and looked away from each other. It was about noon now, so they decided to go and get lunch. Naruto insisted on Ichiraku's, which Sakura and Sasuke agreed too, even though this would probably be the millionth time they'd eaten there with him. They weren't in the mood to argue and they pondered about their new gifts.

Sasuke enjoyed the fact that he now had something to cover his belongings and chokuto. Even the Uchiha crest was there, in clear view, on the back. It hadn't been much of a surprise that she bought him something. But the fact that she had seemingly, completely discarded her anger at him from something that was still a mystery to him; it bothered the raven haired male.

Sakura loved her new necklace. It truly was beautiful and amazing. The fact that he had spent that much money, no, that he had spent any money at all on her puzzled her. He'd been very protective of her lately and that also bewildered her. She frowned. Sasuke still kept so many secrets though. Why was he even back in the village anyway? Why didn't he tell her anything? Why was he protective of her? Why did he buy her the necklace? Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation with the girls at the hot springs. Could he really like her as more than a friend? No way, that's impossible. The thought of it made her silently laugh at herself. Sasuke Uchiha would never feel that way towards her, and she just had to accept that fact. However, it was the only explanation she had for all of the questions. Pushing the thought to the back of her mind, Sakura returned her attention back to reality.

* * *

After eating lunch and Sasuke almost vomiting because of Naruto's horrible way of eating, they split up. Sakura went to find Ino, with Sasuke and Naruto walking around together.

"I'm getting tired of looking through these shops," Sasuke said.

Naruto put his hands behind his head. "Why? There's so many things to look at," he paused to laugh, which earned him a glare. "Is it because you don't want me here while you look for another gift?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that nothing's happening!?" the Uchiha angrily whispered.

"Then why are you being nice? You're Sasuke Uchiha, you're never nice to anyone," Naruto said with a small smile.

Sasuke sighed and had a sad frown. Naruto was surprised when he didn't retaliate by punching him or something, and he turned his head curiously. Sasuke thought for a minute before speaking. He decided that since it was just his best friend, then he could tell him. Even Naruto would understand.

"Out of all the people I've hurt, I hurt her the most. I can't do that again, ever. I know that I can never truly make up for anything I've done, but..." he trailed off.

They continued to walk through the streets. Naruto's expression was one filled with great sorrow. Sasuke finally spoke again. "If there's any way that I can take some of the pain that I caused away, then I'm going to try and do it."

Silence fell between them, only the sounds of other people having fun were heard. Naruto had been thinking over what his best friend had told him, and he smiled. "She still feels the same way you know."

The other male glanced at him. "I kinda figured that out already. All it does is make me angry. After everything that happened, how can she still feel the same?"

Naruto thought about what to say next. "It's because she's forgiven you. All of us have."

The urge to pummel his best friend came over Sasuke. There it was again. Everyone had forgiven him, and he hated all of them for it. He didn't have to earn it, they'd freely given it to him at will. Nothing should be that easy. Especially this.

* * *

Ino came out of her house with Sakura waiting at the front door. "Okay Forehead, where to first?"

"I've already been to pretty much everywhere. You lead the way," Sakura replied.

Ino started to walk past her best friend, but she stopped when she saw the necklace. Her jaw dropped as she grabbed it and pulled the chain loose to take it off.

"Hey Pig, what are you doing?!"

"Where did you get this?!"

"Sasuke bought it for me," Sakura responded calmly.

Ino turned it over and looked at the name on the back. "First of all, I am so jealous! Second of all, aw! That is so sweet! You two are adorable together!"

They started moving again. "We are not dating Ino! How may times do I have to tell you?"

The Yamanaka looked at her friend in utter disbelief as she handed the necklace back. "Why?! You still like him and it's obvious now that he likes you, too!"

"He's just being generous," she defended.

"You are so stupid! It's right in front of you, but how can you not see it?!"

Sakura knew what Ino was implying, but she refused to believe that he liked her in that way. "You should know Sasuke well enough to believe that's not true," she said.

"Sakura, why do you keep saying that? And I can tell that something else happened!"

Great. Sakura had been thinking about what he did that morning and how odd it was. Not to mention the part where she had gotten upset with him. Anger made its way back into her system. Secrets. That's all their friendship was.

"Forehead, something's wrong. Don't lie to me," Ino commanded after noticing the other kunoichi's expression.

"Fine!" She threw her hands in the air. "He won't leave me alone. Plus, he keeps so many secrets. I haven't gotten him to talk about anything. This morning," she paused and blushed in embarrassment, "he kissed me on the cheek. He said he was just fooling around," she quickly added.

"And you believe that?!"

"Why shouldn't I?"

Ino stomped her foot. "If he didn't like you, then why would he of all people do that?!"

"I don't know," she said truthfully.

"Ugh! I'm mad now! Thanks a lot Billboard Brow! Anyway, I have to go to the cemetery and visit dad," she finished sadly.

"I've already been. I'll see you later Pig," Sakura said as she turned and went the other way.

"Later!" Ino called back.

* * *

People were laughing as they passed by the lanterns hanging from the shops. It was around ten. All of the Konoha rookies, Sai, and the sand siblings were at an outside shop. Even the Hokage was there. Some of them were in the middle of a drinking contest.

Kankuro threw his glass down first and belched. "I win!"

Kiba put his down. "You may have finished first, but it's not over yet."

Lee picked one up before Tenten grabbed it and tossed it over her shoulder. "You know exactly what happens when you get drunk Lee," she warned. He pouted and moved down in his seat.

Naruto put his down and tilted his head, clearly drunk. "What's the matter with you Sasuke? Why are you drinking so slow? It's you, Shikamaru, Lee, Kakashi sensei, Gaara, and all the girls!"

Sasuke set his drink down. "Because we're smart unlike you and the rest."

Hinata grabbed her husband's arm as he tried to get up. "Naruto you drank to much. Don't get up."

He put a hand on his wife's shoulder. "I'm fine Hinata! See!" He got up and immediately passed out. Kakashi caught him before he completely fell over. The amused Hokage sat the unconscious Uzumaki next to Hinata.

Sasuke looked at Sakura. She was about to get her second cup. Before she made it to her lips, he grabbed it and gulped all of it down in one breath.

She put her hand that had been frozen in place down. "What was that for?"

"You shouldn't be drinking much," he said as he grabbed another that she was reaching for. Once again, he drank it in one breath.

Sighing, she crossed her arms and sat back. Ino smirked at her. The other kunoichi were smiling, too. Sakura rolled her eyes at them.

"I better go and find Karui," Choji said as he got up and left.

"Excuse me," Sai started as he stared at his glass, "but what exactly is the proper limit?"

"There isn't a limit, just drink as much as you want!" Ino yelled as she gulped hers down.

Sakura motioned for Temari to hand her one under the table. The sand kunoichi nudged Shikamaru, who had his arm around her, and he handed her one. When no one was looking, Temari stealthily moved it under the table. Before Sakura could even begin to reach under the table, Sasuke had it and finished it off quickly.

She was extremely annoyed with him. The pinkette narrowed her eyes and frowned. "That's your fourth one. Feeling off yet?"

He smirked. "Hn, nope, and I can do this all night. Don't underestimate me."

Tenten smiled and moved her eyebrows up and down repeatedly. She laughed when Sakura gave her a glare that could kill. Kakashi was the next to leave, saying that he was to old to be hanging out with the "young ones".

Naruto woke up and rubbed his eyes. "So, who are all the couples that are gonna kiss at midnight? Me and Hinata are doing it!"

Ino beamed. "We'll do it! Won't we Sai?"

Sai had been distracted by his drink. "Hm? Oh, um... sure!"

Everyone looked to Shikamaru and Temari. "What?!" they said in unison.

"It'll be fun!" Hinata said with a smile. They still didn't agree and Ino and Kankuro shared an evil smile.

"Hey Shikamaru," Ino began, "should I tell her about what happened at the field a few days ago?"

Shikamaru gasped in surprise.

It was Kankuro's turn to instigate. "Temari, should I go in detail about that mission you were sent on a couple of weeks ago?"

Temari gritted her teeth. She looked at Shikamaru before they both turned bright red. "Fine," they said in unison.

The others smiled and high fived. Kiba had been looking depressed and he sat up with an excited look. "Hey Tenten, wou-"

She had immediately interrupted. "Not a chance Kiba!" He frowned.

Shino smirked and said, "Even Akamaru can get a date before you."

Kiba opened his mouth and looked back at his companion. Akamaru was jumping around with another dog. He groaned and put his face in his hands.

Most of the others stared at Sasuke and Sakura. Sasuke glared back. Naruto began to interrogate again. "You guys have any plans?"

Everybody turned to look at them, even Lee who was clearly disappointed. The two shinobi being cornered shared a glance and looked away. Sakura said, "We're going to watch the fireworks."

"Is that so? Nothing else?" Naruto continued. Hinata gave him a look that told him to tone it down. He ignored it and waited for a response.

"Yes," Sasuke said coldly. If the Uzumaki kept it up, this would turn into a heated argument. The others held their breath, some were confused as to why the Uchiha sounded so defensive. Others knew exactly why, and they shared glances.

Hinata interrupted before it got serious. "Sakura can I see your new necklace? It looks gorgeous on you."

Sakura hesitated for a second, gazing at Sasuke from the corner of her eye. He seemed to have calmed down so she got up and Hinata did the same.

"Naruto told me that Sasuke bought it for you. It's amazing," she said as soon as they were out of range. She continued, "And that cloak he's wearing. You got it for him, didn't you?"

She took her necklace off for the former Hyuga to get a better look at it. "Yes, and thanks for saving me back there."

"It's not a problem. I'm sorry for Naruto's persistence. He's been talking nonstop about something happening with you and Sasuke," she said as she looked the item over.

"I wish he'd stop. That's impossible anyway," Sakura said with little to no emotion.

Hinata handed back the necklace with her face contorted between hurt and confusion. The fact that Sakura felt that way made her feel uncomfortable. She tried to think of what to say. Sakura had saved her life more than once on missions, and she had also helped her gain the confidence to tell Naruto how she really felt. Sasuke, however, was a much different story. He was much more difficult and complicated than Naruto.

"Do you remember what you told me a while ago?" Hinata asked with a smile.

"About what?"

"About supporting each other. You helped me with Naruto, and I'm very grateful. If you asked me, I think that Sasuke cares deeply about you. Even if it isn't in a romantic way right now, you should still follow your heart."

Sakura smiled. "Thanks Hinata. I guess I should listen to my own advice."

They hugged and headed back to their friends. Naruto was still a little drunk and Hinata tried to keep him from challenging Gaara to a fight again.

"Naruto, I promise that I will fight you when you aren't drunk. My village will be staying here for an extended time after the festival. We can fight sometime then," Gaara said.

Naruto tried to stand up with Hinata holding him down. "Liar! I'm not drunk! You're just scared!"

As they continued to argue with the others joining in, Sakura noticed that Sasuke looked like he was about to get sick. She smirked. "Had to much to drink?"

He glanced at her while holding his stomach. "No, I told you that I can do this all night."

Her smirk grew bigger. She grabbed a glass and taunted him. "Then I guess you won't mind taking this one from me. I'll go until you pass out."

"Challenge accepted," he said, all the sickness seeming to leave him. So he drank about five more glasses until he finally got up and puked a short distance away. He rubbed his eyes and tried to focus when he got back. "You got me drunk," he told Sakura.

She took a cup and enjoyed her victory. "All I wanted was one more. You should've let me have it." He passed out shortly after watching her finish the drink.

He woke up with a severe headache about an hour later to see that everyone was still there. "Have a nice nap?" Sakura asked.

"You're lucky that my head hurts to much to retort. At least I'm not drunk anymore," he added.

"We have less than an hour before the fireworks," Tenten said tiredly.

Shikamaru and Temari sighed as they remembered what they had agreed to do at midnight.

Kankuro said, "All the single guys come with me. We've gotta find some girls soon."

He got up with Kiba immediately following. They talked Shino and Lee into coming, too. Then, they forced Gaara to get up and told him all he had to do was watch. However, they were expertly lying. Kiba spoke. "Don't forget about Tenten. We have to find her a guy."

Tenten protested as they dragged her along with them, but she was too tired to do anything.

Shikamaru looked in surprise at Sasuke and Sakura, who were arguing about something and not paying attention. He leaned over to Temari. "Are they-"

She laughed and cut him off. "They both say that it's nothing, but most of us don't believe that's true."

He shook the thought from his mind and everyone just chatted until about half past eleven.

Sasuke had his head in his hands, still suffering from a headache. "I'm not going to sleep when we get home," he said with his voice muffled.

"Why? It'll be late," she responded.

Sasuke knew that he shouldn't have told her right after it came out of his mouth. He wasn't going to sleep because of the nightmares, but he hadn't meant to say anything. He hadn't been thinking straight when he said it, and he guessed it was because he might have been slightly drunk still. "Nothing, just forget I said that. Don't worry about me."

Sakura frowned. There it was again. "Don't worry about me," he always said. "It's nothing," he said. Hinata's words rang in her head again, after all it was her own advice. If she wanted to follow her heart at the moment, it told her to get as far away from the Uchiha as possible. She was tired of all his excuses. She was tired of him doing things without telling her why. No, she was tired of him not telling her anything! All the anger and frustration that she had built up for three years was ready to explode. Why was he such a jerk?!

"I'm going to find a restroom," she said as she left the table.

Sasuke watched her leave and was glad that his headache had finally passed. Something was wrong. He was the only one who had detected the incredibly small change in her voice. Her tone wasn't normal. He turned back to the table and put the thought into the back of his mind. Maybe there wasn't anything wrong and his mind was just playing tricks on him.

A short time later, the others decided to get a good spot for the upcoming fireworks. They traveled until they found a place with a nice view. The entire conversation on the way was about Naruto's rocket. Sasuke looked behind him and noticed that Sakura was still no where to be seen. He checked the chakra signatures around him. Nothing. Next, he looked even further away for a familiar chakra. He finally found hers at quite a distance away, on top of the Hokage monument.

After he excused himself, he quickly made his way past the villagers that had started to crowd around. It was about fifteen minutes until midnight. Sasuke was completely puzzled at why she'd lied. _"She shouldn't be so far away from us either. There's to many people out tonight and something could happen," _he thought as his protective nature kicked in.

Jumping from the rooftops with his new cloak flying out behind him after each leap, Sasuke made his way higher and higher towards the monument. He was beginning to worry about her safety and he silently cursed himself for thinking that she needed his protection.

* * *

The Uchiha walked slowly towards the Haruno. She was in a sitting position with her knees up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them. She had been crying.

He frowned when he spoke. "When you cry it's usually because of me," he paused as he sat down beside her, "so what did I do now?"

He was startled at how fast she was to get up and move away from him. Quickly standing up again, he grabbed her wrist and turned her around. "Don't walk away from me!"

"Don't touch me!" she shouted as she jerked her wrist away.

This time, Sasuke grabbed her shoulders and held on tightly. "What's wrong?"

Sakura slapped his hands off of her shoulders. "Why should I tell you anything?"

His mouth gaped open slightly out of shock and bewilderment. "What do you mean?"

Sakura scoffed. "You haven't told me anything, so why should I tell you anything? All you do is keep secrets from me and I'm tired of it."

The realization of why she had been so upset with him recently hit him like a paper bomb going off. It was the truth though. Sasuke had not told her a single thing. Nothing about his nightmares, about his journey, and nothing about what happened after the first time he'd left. Not to mention, anything about when he had been "lost to darkness".

"Why? Is it because you're afraid that I'll cry or that I'm too weak?" she asked harshly.

"Sakura, there are many words to describe you, but weak will never be one of them. Annoying is my favorite," he finished with a smirk. He was doing his best to calm her down, but with no luck.

"Not a surprise. That's all you think I am, isn't it?" she spat with venom.

He was beginning to get desperate. What had come over her so suddenly? Is that really what she made it out to be? That he only thought of her as annoying? His smirk turned back into a frown. "No! Why would you think that?"

Her eyes were becoming watery again. "You really don't get it?! Of course I think that. Before you left, you couldn't care less about me. Now, you're back and you pretend that you do care. Why?"

So that's what she really thought. He couldn't blame her for it. He had always been a jerk to her in the past. He'd never admitted to it, but he was extremely lucky to have her. She'd saved his life more than once, but he never said thanks and tried to act cool. But saying that he never cared about her? That was not true.

Sasuke stepped closer and entwined his left hand with her right. "I've always cared about you."

A single tear fell from her left eye. "You still haven't answered my other question. Why haven't you told me anything?"

Sasuke knew the answer right off and started to tell her the truth. "It's not that I don't trust you or that I'm afraid it will hurt you."

"Then why?"

He didn't answer. They stared at each other until she had grown tired of waiting. Sakura made him let go of her hand and she began to walk away. She hadn't gotten far before there was a gust of wind and he was in front of her.

Sasuke let his bangs fall back into place after he used the Rinnegan to teleport. He slowly moved his right hand to wipe away the tear that had fallen from her left eye. Letting his hand slide down to her neck with his thumb lingering on her cheek, he finally gave her a direct answer. "It's because I'm afraid that if you find out about all the terrible things I've done... I'm afraid that I'll lose you."

She was speechless. She let her right hand move to his chest and he showed no sign of protesting. "Sasuke..."

"Sakura, you mean more to me than you think..."

They were already so close that they could hear the other's heartbeat. The thumps started to get faster and louder as they stared into each other's eyes.

Another gust of wind blew through, revealing Sasuke's Rinnegan. His cloak moved slightly at the gust, too. Sakura could not get over how attractive the Uchiha was.

He was mesmerized by her eyes. The way the moonlight reflected off of them made Sasuke realize just how beautiful she really was. All sense of restraint was slowly leaving his body. He began to close his eyes and lean in. She started to slide her hands up his chest and behind his neck, closing her eyes. The fire burning in his chest made him want to forget reality and focus only on her. She forgot all about time itself as they slowly closed the distance between them. Now less than an inch from the other, then a centimeter, then-

BANG!

They broke away from each other in an instant, both nearly suffering a heart attack by the sudden noise. They turned to see that the first firework had exploded high in the air. Watching silently and turning a hot red, they pondered to themselves.

Sakura thought, _"Were we just about to-?! No! No way! Who am I kidding?! Did he lean in first?!"_

_"I was just about to... Did I lean in first?!" _Sasuke thought. He turned an even darker shade as he confirmed that he did.

Over the next few minutes, they watched and listened in silence as the fireworks exploded and villagers cheered and laughed. The fireworks stopped for a short intermission and the cheers continued. Sasuke's and Sakura's hearts were practically about to burst out of their chests. The dark red color had finally disappeared from both of their flustered features.

Sasuke had been staring at the ground while they waited; he looked up when he heard Sakura gasp. "What is it?" he asked.

She pointed into the sky, towards the moon. A dark figure was seemingly floating in front of the moon. Apparently, they weren't the only ones who had noticed, as they heard cries of amazement from the villagers below. The figure did not move, only its dark cloak flowed with the movement of the wind. Another minute passed with everyone watching in suspense. Sasuke stepped to the very edge of the cliff overlooking the village, squinting to get a better look. Suddenly, an orb of what looked like chakra surrounded the figure.

The figure spoke with a deep voice and it sounded like a male. The strange chakra orb was making it so that everybody could hear. "Greetings, people of the Hidden Leaf. I would also like to greet the other visiting villages as well."

Sasuke had heard the voice before. "He sounds familiar. That chakra looks familiar, too."

Sakura walked beside him on the edge. "I've heard that voice before, too."

The man talked again. "I've come with a request, well actually more of a demand," he paused as shocked yells were heard. "My demand, is that you give me Sasuke Uchiha. If you fail to comply with my request, then I will show no mercy on every shinobi and innocent citizen in this world."

Gasps were heard in every direction from frightened villagers. Sasuke stood with his jaw hanging wide open in surprise. Sakura had the same expression. She turned to him with a look of confusion. He shook his head and they turned their attention back to the floating man.

"YOU AND WHAT ARMY!?" a villager shouted distantly.

The cloaked figure laughed. "I'm glad you asked. What I'm about to show you will become the fate of your village if you refuse. Fortunately for you, I've come by myself this evening." He stopped and a projection came from what seemed like his eyes. It was in full color, looking like a movie. It showed a vast army of bloodthirsty rogues along with other shinobi in his "army" tearing apart anyone who came in their path. Or, anyone that the cloaked figure began to point at. Women and children screamed from down below. The projection stopped and he laughed hysterically. "None of that has to happen if you give me what I want," he looked around, "It seems my time to chat has been cut short. Here come the ANBU."

Sure enough, ANBU came from every direction, casting ninjutsu straight at the invader. The chakra orb disappeared.

"Let's go!" Sasuke shouted as both him and Sakura jumped down the cliff and landed on a rooftop. What did this guy want with him? He was definitely familiar. That's all they knew for sure.

Genin were herding the villagers and leading them to safety on all sides. The ANBU fighting in the air launched a combo attack, trapping the man in a giant mud block. Fireballs came from all sides, burning the block to a crisp. They stopped and waited, only to find that he was still alive and he made his way higher into the air. With one flick of his wrist, the air was filled with explosions and the ANBU were falling to the ground, unconscious and seriously injured. Sasuke and Sakura dodged everything from falling shinobi to terrified villagers. They ran until they found their friends, along with all of the Kage.

Seeing as the ANBU had been beaten, Gaara raised both of his hands and sand erupted from the earth on every inch of the outside of the village.

The man turned his head around in interest. "Amazing," he whispered to himself with a smile. The sand engulfed him in seconds with Temari and Kankuro hitching a ride on a couple of moving piles of sand. The puppet Kankuro had made from Sasori's body was beside him and flames shot out of its hands. He was moved out of the way as Temari came around and gave one gigantic hurl with her fan. The wind storm froze what was now most likely lava, in place. As he set his siblings down, Gaara closed an open hand into a tightly clenched fist. "Burning Sand Coffin!" he shouted as the flaming ball became smaller and exploded.

"Did we get him?!" Kankuro shouted.

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, the man came from behind them, flying to his original spot. "That was an extraordinary move. But, that was a clone. Anyway, I've let you all have your fun."

"Shut up and say your last words!" Naruto shouted as he formed a massive Rasengan.

"You must be the kyuubi's jinchuriki," he said with interest. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"And wh-" Naruto fell to the ground and screamed in pain. Hinata kneeled beside him. Three of the other Kage were about to make a move as well when the cloaked figure laughed again. All of them fell to the ground in a heap, and they were followed by tons of other shinobi attempting to attack. Kakashi and Gaara were the only Kage left standing, but they were frozen in place by shock. The man let himself fall to the ground in front of them, landing safely on his feet. Sasuke and Sakura were also in the group that remained standing. They watched as the man removed his hood and Sasuke gasped.

"You..." he whispered.

"So you do remember me then?" the man asked in his deep voice. The male was actually quite handsome and was a couple of inches shorter than Sasuke. He was in his late twenties with short, jet black hair. His skin color was caucasion. His bangs that hung down on his right side ended right above his eyebrow. The hair style of the man looked exactly like Gaara's style during the war. The most interesting thing about him was his eyes. They were tired and half closed, yet they were mesmerizing at the same time. The pupils were a charcoal black. A thin, black ring was in the direct halfway point between the pupil and the skin around his eye. The section between the pupil and ring was a lightning blue, much like that of the Chidori. The outer area's color between the black ring and skin was the purple of a Rinnegan.

Sasuke clenched his fists and yelled to the remaining shinobi, "Don't look into his eyes!" Kakashi and Gaara immediately looked down at the man's feet, with Sakura and the others copying the action

A snort. "So you remember these eyes, I see. You only had a short sniff of what they can really do."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and spat, "I killed you!"

"Seeing as I'm still here, I think that's false information," he said with a smirk.

More battle cries were heard as Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji set up for their team move, not once looking the male in the eyes. They had just finished their set up when Ino and Shikamaru froze with their eyes widened and mouths gaped.

"What is this?! Who are you?!" Kakashi shouted.

The male narrowed his eyes and made a thin line with his mouth. "My name is Kurushimi. I've already told you my demands. To answer what this is, it's my eyes obviously."

Kakashi was getting frustrated by the lack of true response from the man, but he was brought out of his thoughts by Choji rolling past him in his human boulder form. His teammates were still paralyzed in their original stance.

Kurushimi sighed. "Why do they never listen?" He did not move as a cloud of dust covered the scene when Choji crashed into him. Everyone covered their eyes as the dust blew past. A scream was heard, and Choji's body flew from the cloud. Karui caught him and gasped as she saw that he was covered in blood. Sakura quickly ran over and started to treat him.

"Release," the attacker said with a yawn. Everyone who had been paralyzed or on the ground writhing in pain became aware of their surroundings once again. Naruto tried to get up, but collapsed and was forced to watch because he couldn't do anything.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you have one week to leave this village. If you do not leave within the given time, I will start a war and destroy every shinobi and innocent person in this world. When you leave, you will come and find me. I will give you an unlimited amount of time to do so. If you leave and do not try to find me, then once again, I will kill everyone in this world," Kurushimi instructed sternly. Before anyone could say anything, he was gone with a puff of smoke.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke before turning her attention back to the unconscious Choji. Sasuke looked on in disbelief at where Kurushimi had stood. He was back, but how? He had killed him! Why was he here then?

Everyone stared at Sasuke with complete confusion and worry.

"What just happened here?" Kakashi asked in a whisper.

* * *

**Author's Note: **That was a lot of words... If you're still with me after all that reading, then I'd like to thank you for reading it. Also, thanks for the follows and reviews you guys give me! I struggled a little with deciding Kurushimi's appearance, especially the eyes. I will explain more about them in later chapters and why he wants to kill Sasuke. Once again, thanks so much for reading! I would really love for you to review on this chapter and tell me what you thought of the villain's debut. Also, let's not forget Sasuke and Sakura's "intimate" moments. PLEASE review! Peace out!


	10. Past Encounters

**WARNING! POTENTIAL SPOILERS FOR THE HIDEN NOVELS IN FIRST AUTHOR'S NOTE!**

* * *

**Author's**** Note: **So I've heard some rumors about the Hiden novels. The Kakashi one apparently confirmed that Sasuke stayed in the village for a year after his and Naruto's fight. I've heard another rumor that the Shikamaru one says that during that time, Sasuke and Sakura had already become a couple. I've heard more about the Sakura one in the last few days but it's too much to talk about in an author's note.

* * *

"Who was he anyway?!" a livid Tsuchikage screamed as he slammed his fists onto the Hokage's desk.

It was now four days before the limit Kurushimi had given Sasuke would be reached. Chaos was still happening among every regular villager. The shinobi of all the nations tried to keep order and it worked for the most part. Kakashi had told Sasuke to stay in the apartment at all times until he sent for him. They had yet to discuss why Kurushimi was after Sasuke. The three days after the festival had been spent as rebuilding the damages during the attack. Most of the ANBU had healed and were back on duty. No one had been killed, but others such as Choji Akimichi were in serious condition.

Kakashi was resting his head on his propped up hands, sitting at the desk. "He said that his name was Kurushimi. I need to speak with Sasuke to find out what all of that was about."

The Mizukage and Tsuchikage shared a glance. She spoke. "Me and the Tsuchikage have agreed that we want no part in this."

The Raikage was the next to talk. "I'm going to have to agree with them on this. My village has had no part in whatever that man wanted with the Uchiha."

The Hokage sat back. "I understand, but I don't think that you should travel yet. It would be best if you and your villages stay here until everything has been worked out. Also, if he was serious about destroying everything, then all of the nations would be here and our forces would be stronger if we united again."

The three Kage nodded in agreement and excused themselves. This gave Gaara a chance to talk with Kakashi. He said, "If it means keeping all of our villages safe, then I will do what is necessary. Sasuke Uchiha is also a comrade."

Kakashi sighed. "I still don't know what to do. Kurushimi seemed like a real threat, and I can't decide on anything until I know what Sasuke knows."

Gaara frowned. "I agree. Do you know what's been going on with him after sending him to the apartment? Maybe he's said something to Sakura."

The Hokage shook his head. "Sakura has told me that he won't sleep and that he hasn't said anything. I think that Sasuke intends to do as the man said and find him. Knowing Sasuke, he'll want to do it alone."

"Hmm... I think you're right. You won't let him do it will you? I will not let him go alone either if that's the case."

"I don't even know whether to do anything at all. Although, I've already said that the man seemed like an actual threat. If I'm right, then we will put an end to him, but Sasuke won't be going alone."

The Kazekage nodded. "After you speak with Sasuke, then we should decide on what to do."

* * *

"Sasuke, please sit down and rest!" Sakura yelled as the Uchiha continued to pace back and forth around the living room.

"No! I can't. I killed him, so how was he here? I'm not resting until Kurushimi is dead!" he shouted as he walked past the couch for the billionth time.

Sakura sat down on the couch and as soon as he walked past again, she pulled him down beside her. "If he was serious, then all of us need to know about him before another war breaks out," she said.

Sasuke stared at her with a frown. After their conversation atop the Hokage monument at the festival, he'd still wanted to keep silent about everything. However, she was doing her best to reassure him that she'd still be there for him. Now he decided that she was right and that he should open up about some things.

She continued. "Everyone who froze or fell to the ground said that it was because they saw terrible things. Some said it was bad memories and others said that they saw different things. That's all we could get out of them though."

Sasuke turned his gaze to the floor. He knew what some of that was, but if he told anyone then they would not let him go alone. Kakashi wouldn't let him go at all if he didn't know anything that he did though. He decided that it was best to tell Sakura what he knew and she could pass on the message to the Hokage. Then things would fall into place for him. She had only left the apartment if someone else was there with him.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "If I tell you, then you have to tell Kakashi."

She nodded.

"About a year ago when I was doing work for the Cloud, I'd been in a bar the whole day trying to get information on any rogues that I could take care of for them. So far, I hadn't gotten anything useful. That's when _he _showed up."

* * *

ONE YEAR AGO

Sasuke was just about ready to head back to the main part of the Cloud Village.

"Excuse me," a man in a hooded cloak said as he walked to where Sasuke sat, "but I heard that you're looking for information on rogues. I think I may be able to help with that."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Sure, but I'd trust you more if you pulled that hood down."

The man laughed. His voice was deep. "I understand. I wouldn't want anyone to overhear us though, so could we go somewhere more private?"

He nodded and they traveled down a path that was unknown to Sasuke. The Uchiha wasn't letting his guard down, constantly checking for intruders. This man seemed pretty shady, too.

"Do you live near here?" he asked the man.

"No, unfortunately I don't really have a home."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

The man chuckled. "Not to worry. It seems we've reached the point to where we can start talking. I won't get into the major details until we've reached the safe point."

Sasuke looked around one last time to check for other chakra signatures. It seemed to be safe, so he turned his attention back to his possible source of information.

"The rogue I have information on goes by the name of Kenshi. He's quite famous around here so I assume that you've heard of him."

Sasuke gasped in surprise. "Of course, he's a rogue that's a master swordsman isn't he?"

"Yes. That's what Kenshi means, swordsman. He deserted the Cloud. He has little skill in ninjutsu or genjutsu, but is great with taijutsu."

"What's the information you have on him? Is he near here?" Sasuke was eager to hear the answers. He had been itching to have a real fight for a long time now. Also, the information that he was not very skilled in ninjutsu or genjutsu and that he was skilled in taijutsu excited the Uchiha even more. He already had an edge on his opponent because of Rock Lee. Lee was also only skilled in taijutsu so Sasuke might have an advantage from watching Lee fight. The fact that Kenshi was a skilled swordsman though may have evened out their future battle. Sasuke was also a skilled swordsman, but he had heard that Kenshi had started from the age of two. Plus, Sasuke only had his right arm to fight with.

"Let's wait until we get to our destination for that. I want to make absolutely sure that no one is following us."

They traveled in silence for awhile before the man spoke again. "By the way, you aren't from around here are you?"

The Uchiha frowned. He decided that it would be okay to give away that information. "Hn, no."

"I figured. Forgive me for asking anything personal. I won't do it again," he responded.

Sasuke thought he had detected a change of tone from the man. It was almost like it sounded evil. The change had been too quick to tell though. He shook the thought away, thinking that it'd been his imagination.

"We're here," the man said after a few more minutes of walking.

They had arrived at a small cabin far outside the main village. Sasuke checked for chakra signatures once more. Something about this place made him feel on edge. However, he didn't ask any questions and followed the man inside.

"My name is Kurushimi," the male said as soon as he closed the door. The cabin was one small room with absolutely nothing in it but a single chair; slightly suspicious to Sasuke.

Kurushimi continued. "Sit down, this might take awhile."

Sasuke set his chokuto down next to the chair and sat down. Kurushimi turned around and looked out of the tiny window on the front door. He removed his hood, but did not turn around where Sasuke could see his face. The only thing that Sasuke saw was the short, dark, messy hair of the man, exactly like Gaara's style.

"Now, about the rogue. You asked if he was near. The answer to that question is yes. Kenshi is very close to our current location. In fact, he's a lot closer than you think..."

The last of his clan narrowed his eyes in confusion. The way that Kurushimi had said the last part was-

He didn't even have time to finish his thoughts before his own chokuto was touching the front of his neck. Sasuke was about to make some sort of move when he looked back at Kurushimi. The eyes of the man made him freeze in place. They were black pupils with a black ring in between each pupil and skin outside the eye. The part in between the pupil and ring was a lightning blue, somewhat like Chidori. The section between the ring and skin was a Rinnegan purple.

Sasuke tried to move over and over again but his body wouldn't cooperate. Something about those eyes made him as still as solid ice. His jaw dropped as Kurushimi moved closer to him.

"I know what you're thinking," he began, "you checked for anyone before you came in. Well, Kenshi has an unimaginable speed, much faster than yours."

_"Much faster than me?! Is that even possible?!_" Sasuke thought to himself.

Kurushimi spoke again. "If I'm right that is..."

Immediately after he finished, Sasuke's attacker pulled his head back by the hair, revealing his Rinnegan. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes in pain. When he opened them, he looked up to see those eyes again. His jaw dropped once more, eyes widening, and his breath came in short gasps, a cold sweat had also started. The Uchiha saw his whole life flash before him. Everything from the day of his birth, which he couldn't even begin to remember, right to the current day. His vision came back to the present and he continued to struggle for air. As soon as it was over, he immediately forgot most of the memories that he couldn't remember before he saw those eyes. An instant, that's all it had been.

"Looks like we were right, it is the last Uchiha," Kurushimi said.

"You figured all that out just be looking into his eyes?" the man behind Sasuke asked. His voice was not very deep, more in the range of the Akatsuki member, Deidara. Sasuke looked back to see what the master swordsman Kenshi's appearance was. The male had big brown eyes along with hair that was the color of Naruto Uzumaki's. The messy hair belonging to the man was short. He also had a scar that stretched from the right side of his forehead to the middle of his left cheek. Kenshi looked to be the same age as Kurushimi, late twenties. The male was wearing a cloak similar to Kurushimi's. He had a small build but was still showing some muscles. Sasuke guessed that Kenshi was about a foot shorter than him, looking from this angle.

A sigh. "I've already explained to you many times how my eyes work. But, I guess that our new friend here would like to know. You better pay attention too, Kenshi. I'm not telling you again."

"Whatever..."

"Well, Sasuke Uchiha... it seems like a genjutsu doesn't it? I assure you that it's actually nothing like a genjutsu. What I just did to you basically was copy your memories and store them in my eyes. I can rewatch any of them, anytime I want. However, since I only needed to know your identity, I only have a few of your important memories stored." He laughed. "That's only the beginning of what these eyes can do. I don't even think that I will have to display any of its other powers anyway."

Kurushimi gave a small nod to Kenshi, an evil grin plastered on his face. Kenshi chuckled before slowly moving around to the front of Sasuke and holding the chokuto with the point pressed to Sasuke's stomach.

The Uchiha was frozen in place. His body still wasn't cooperating, which he guessed was part of what that man's eyes could do. _"If I die now, then what was the point of it all!?" _Some of the memories he'd just watched came back to him. His family, his team, their missions. One finger twitched as Kenshi thrust the blade through his stomach. Sasuke cried out in pain. Kenshi laughed hysterically and slowly took the bloody blade out.

"You want a turn Kurushimi?!" he asked as he handed the blade to the delighted male.

Kurushimi laughed. "It's pretty sad that I have to kill you right now. Looks like you won't see her again after all..."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

_"I'll see you when I get back..."_

He had drawn the blade all the way back. It whizzed through the air.

_"Move!" _he told himself. Sasuke's entire remaining arm twitched. A few more inches and he'd be dead. Then, the image of her smile came.

_"MOVE!" _

Kurushimi and Kenshi gasped in unison as Sasuke caught the blade with the soles of his sandals. Holding it between his feet, he reached over and raked across Kenshi's eyes. The swordsman screamed and covered his face. Sasuke used one foot to kick his chokuto back to him and the other to kick Kurushimi's stomach. The next instant, he disappeared.

"Find him!" the male yelled while holding his stomach.

Kenshi removed his hands from his eyes. A small gash had opened under the right one. "Don't blame me if I kill him before you do!" The swordsman ran out the door with incredible speed. Kurushimi slowly followed.

Sasuke stumbled through the woods holding his bleeding stomach. The chokuto was still in his only hand. They'd catch him soon at this rate, but with Kenshi's speed it would be sooner than he'd wanted. The bandana had been quickly tied around his head after he'd used the Rinnegan to teleport.

"Where're you going kid?!" Sasuke turned just in time to block a strike from Kenshi. They struggled for the upper hand after many seconds of the blades shaking back and forth against each other. Kenshi eventually won the battle and Sasuke went on the defensive.

Dodging many slashes, the Uchiha realized something. _"He's just biding time for the other guy! This wound is getting worse by the second, too! I have to do something fast!"_

Sasuke dodged a few more strikes before jumping back and gaining a large distance. Concentrating one of his eyes onto the swordsman, black flames came from nowhere and flew towards the man with the scar. Kenshi gasped and started running, the flames close behind with every move he made. Sasuke resisted the urge to grab his bleeding eye, knowing that now was not the time to worry about it. Instead, he caught his breath and turned around. The moment he did, a katana lunged at him with Kenshi wielding it. Barely dodging, he jumped out of the way as the flames continued to head toward the swordsman.

"I heard that you can outrun these flames if you're fast enough!" Kenshi yelled as he lunged once again. "That makes them useless against me!"

As Sasuke moved around repeatedly, he finally extinguished the black flames, accepting the fact that Kenshi was right. He sheathed his chokuto and Kenshi did the same with his katana. They launched themselves at each other and Sasuke attacked first. Kenshi smiled sadistically as he easily dodged every kick and punch that the Uchiha threw. After another missed blow to the nose, Kenshi started to attack. Sasuke could hardly keep up with the man even with his Mangekyo active. However, he still managed to block most of the blows. The next strike was a kick to the stomach, or so Sasuke thought. The leg that was hurtling towards his midsection changed directions in less than a millisecond. Sasuke gasped as he attempted to block the kick to the chin, but he was too late. Stumbling backwards, the last of his clan blinked furiously while rubbing his already bloody lip, trying to make his vision steady.

Kenshi somersaulted backwards and yawned. "I thought that you'd actually be a challenge Uchiha. Guess I was wrong."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and was still bewildered at how fast this man was. "Just who and what are you?"

The swordsman laughed and crossed his arms, a smirk settling on his face. "That's a dumb question. You already know that my name is Kenshi. To answer the other part of your question, you've probably already heard that I'm a rogue from the Cloud."

Sasuke was trying to come up with a plan. Any second now, the other man would arrive. How was he supposed to counter this guy's speed though? Blood continued to drip from his wounds while he pondered.

Kenshi chuckled. "While you're busy planning, why don't you tell me about that girl Kurushimi was talking about. I'll take her as a trophy when you're dead."

Sasuke gritted his teeth and ran towards the man again, forgetting all thoughts of strategy. This time, the speed of his punches and kicks were a lot faster. Kenshi barely dodged an elbow to the neck and he stumbled backwards as the Uchiha rained down blows. Sasuke landed a kick to the man's side and capitalized on another opportunity. His fist connected with Kenshi's jaw and he thought that he'd nearly broken his hand from the impact.

The swordsman landed on his back and blinked rapidly, trying to register what had just happened. He rubbed his blood soaked jaw to confirm that it had almost been broken. He hadn't expected Sasuke to attack him with moves that quick and had been caught off guard. As the Uchiha made his way to him, the male narrowed his eyes in rage and disappeared in a blur.

Sasuke looked everywhere for a chakra signature, but found nothing. Then, he noticed one out of the corner of his eye and turned just as it disappeared again. He had gotten lucky to catch the man off guard and he wasn't anticipating another opening like that. Unsheathing his chokuto, Sasuke turned to block the katana wielded by Kenshi. However, the infuriated master swordsman quickly gained the upper hand and slashed once at Sasuke's side. The Uchiha blocked just in time, but wasn't expecting what came next. Quicker than the blink of an eye, Kenshi took out a kunai and launched it at Sasuke's other side. The Uchiha got away with a small cut as Kenshi took his opportunity to put more force into his blocked katana. Kenshi cursed as Sasuke continued to shield himself from the blade. Next, the rogue grabbed three more kunai from a small bag on his side. He launched two at the same place while stabbing with the third, knowing that the Uchiha only had one hand. Sasuke moved to the side with their clashed blades, easily escaping the distraction, and dodged Kenshi's first stab. The second came even quicker than the first, and sunk deep into Sasuke's right shoulder. He gritted his teeth and angrily put more force into his blade, pushing the other male's away for a small second, giving him a small open window. The blade filled with lightning as Kenshi's katana retreated. The male jumped out of reach as Sasuke swung, but he'd managed to put a minor slash into Kenshi's side.

Sasuke pulled the kunai out of his shoulder and glanced at the wound. He whispered to himself urgently. "Why can't I keep up with him?! He's easily getting in hits and making me look like an amateur! I need to focus!"

"Looks like I underestimated you," Kenshi said as he landed on a high tree branch, spitting out blood. The male was so distracted by his own fury that he'd completely forgotten about the intense pain in his jaw.

Sasuke had had enough. He put his sword away and filled his hand with lightning. The lightning streamed out as Sasuke aimed towards the swordsman. He had finally gained the ability to keep up with the man's movements with the Sharingan and had Kenshi bouncing around on every branch, severing each one the instant his feet left the wood. After he had pretty much totaled the tree, Kenshi was forced to come to the ground and Sasuke took a gamble on where he'd land, which he partially won. The stream of lightning grazed the man's arm and he leaped behind a boulder for cover.

Sasuke let the lightning disappear as he caught his breath. He glanced down at his new wounds to discover that it'd been more serious than he thought. Blood dripped from them at a fast pace, but it still wasn't as severe as the one he had gotten from inside the cabin. The pain grew at an alarming rate, but he knew that now was not the time to think about it. He made himself aware again as he heard a shuffling noise. Kenshi flew from behind the boulder and was caught by the large hand of a Susanoo. One hand and the ribs formed as Sasuke stared down the terrified man, crushing him an instant later, only to find out that it had been a Substitution. Sasuke gasped and turned as three paper bombs exploded against the Susanoo, throwing him into the boulder. His protection vanished as he stood up with a confused look.

"I never said that I didn't know ANY ninjutsu!" Kenshi shouted from many yards away.

Suddenly, a whizzing sound behind Sasuke made him twist around and move his entire body into the shape of a pretzel. The shards of something unknown to him flew past and went through about four trees. When he tried to see what they were, the needle like shards had disappeared into thin air.

A hysterical laugh. "Watch your feet Uchiha!" Kenshi snorted.

Sasuke looked down and saw the same sort of thing that the shards were made out of begin to cover his feet at a quick pace. It was too dark to see what it was. Before they could root him to the ground, he'd flipped back and saw those eyes again.

Kurushimi had a wicked smile. "That's not something that the Sharingan can copy. In fact, you can't copy anything I do with these eyes!"

Sasuke's wounds were starting to really slow him down. He'd already failed to escape and Kurushimi was back. The last Uchiha gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, deciding that now was the time to end this. After only a couple of seconds, half of his purple Susanoo had formed. He slashed with his protection's gigantic purple blade. Kenshi was gone in a flash, the sword missing him by inches. Kurushimi on the other hand had widened eyes as he raised both of his hands in a protective way to his left side. A blue shield of what looked like chakra appeared as contact was made. The force of the clash pushed Kurushimi far to his right with the blade still connected to the shield. He finally managed to stop moving as Sasuke let more black flames fly towards the man with strange eyes.

Kurushimi added more chakra to his shield, letting it completely surround him as the black flames tried to break through. They stopped and the Uchiha stood still as a rock, his Susanoo gone. Kurushimi grinned as he let more needles created by his eyes launch toward Sasuke. The smile turned into a frown as they pierced through his victim's body and he turned into a log.

The frown shifted to a smirk. "I should've known that you wouldn't go down that easily." His eyes widened out of shock, jaw dropping to the ground as the chokuto came through his chest.

"You're right," a gasp, "I'd never go out that easy." Sasuke's vision started to get blurry and he lost it as an elbow hit his nose. After blinking for a short instant, he wanted to end this as fast as possible. "Amaterasu!"

It only took a moment until Kurushimi screamed as he was being burned alive. "I will get my revenge. You will die! I'll take away everything and everyone that you still care about!"

Sasuke strained to hear the man's last words as he stumbled away, fighting to stay conscious. The blood loss was slowly taking affect on him. It was that along with the elbow to the nose that nearly knocked him senseless. However, he didn't have to worry about that man now. He killed him, the last threats from him meant nothing. Continuing to make his way back to the village, safety was still not confirmed. Sasuke was worried about the master swordsman, Kenshi. The scarred male had escaped the hit from the Susanoo's sword. But, he guessed that since his accomplice was dead, he may have retreated from the battle entirely.

The next thirty minutes was a blur to the wounded Uchiha. In the distance, the Cloud came into view. The blood loss had taken it's toll though; the Uchiha collapsed to his hands and knees. Crawling his way towards the village lights, Sasuke's vision went dark and his body slammed into the ground. He lay there for who knows how long, unconscious and bleeding to death.

* * *

"After that, Omoi and Darui found me while they were patrolling. All I told them was that I had a fight with a rogue," Sasuke finished. He left out all the parts about Sakura, replacing them with Team 7 as a whole. They didn't say anything for a few minutes afterward.

"Now I know for sure that I've met Kurushimi before," Sakura said, breaking the silence.

Sasuke's interest peaked and he moved his head to face hers.

She continued. "Six or so months ago, a man came to this village. Not once did he put his hood down and he was wearing the exact same one at the festival. I thought I had recognized his voice when we heard him then. Anyway, he seemed to be very interested in you and the Uchiha. He took turns to speak with all of the people that knew you."

"What happened when he spoke to you?"

"Well, at the time, no one suspected him so he was able to do anything freely. A lot of us were at a club with Ino. When they left the table for awhile and I was by myself, he approached me. He said that he was doing some important research and since I knew you I could help him."

Sasuke moved his hands out of view and balled them into fists. After he had "killed" him, he had come to the village and used all of his comrades. He had used her...

"He sat down and asked me what I knew about the Uchiha. I told him just the basic things like the Sharingan because I was a little puzzled as to why he'd been so intent on getting information. Also, I already knew that he'd come to everyone else and I was apparently the last on his list. Then, the man asked for things about you specifically. All I said was that you were currently on a journey and I didn't know much about you since we weren't close."

Sasuke had gotten tense when she said that they weren't close. Did she really think that?

"Of course, I was lying. After what you've told me though, I figure that he knew I was. When I finished, he had a small sort of pleased smile and he left the village the day after. But, he did say one thing to me before he left."

Sasuke inwardly breathed a sigh of relief when Sakura had said that she'd lied. Now, he waited for her to go on.

"He told me to keep hope that you were coming back and that I shouldn't let my guard down."

Sasuke looked away and gritted his teeth, his fists felt like they were about to pop. That guy had come to this village and questioned all of them. Not only that, but he'd also basically threatened Sakura when he told her to keep her guard up. He bit his lower lip.

"I guess I have to go tell the Hokage about all this. Will you be fine here by yourself?"

He nodded without turning towards her. As soon as she closed the door behind her, he got up and started to pace again. Kurushimi had come before. Now, he'd threatened to destroy everyone and everything if Sasuke did not come after him. Judging by his eyes and the projected army, it was a serious threat.

After pacing for another ten minutes, he stopped thinking about the threat and started wondering about the outcome. If he cooperated with the man, then would no one else have to be hurt?

* * *

Sakura had just finished explaining, in detail, everything that Sasuke had told her. Kakashi had called a meeting with the others involved. The Sand Siblings, Sai, Team Gai, and the rookie group minus Choji, who was in the hospital. All of them told their experiences with the man in the cloak six months ago. Even the siblings said that he'd also come to their village.

The Hokage spoke. "So we know for sure that he's a serious threat. We know that his eyes are special and that they can see all of your memories along with storing them. Everyone else said that they experienced seeing past memories or other things. The other things haven't been explained yet unfortunately."

"What are we gonna do?" Naruto asked.

"Obviously we can't let Sasuke go alone," Sai said.

"We have to do something though. You said it yourself Hokage, Kurushimi is a serious threat," Shikamaru stated.

Kakashi thought hard for a minute. Each one of them had a point. In this case, there was only one option that he could think of. "Kurushimi never said that Sasuke had to go alone. I'm going with him, too."

Naruto immediately jumped up. "Why do you two get to have all the fun? I'm coming whether you guys like it or not."

"Don't leave me out!" Sakura chimed in.

Naruto's and Sakura's announcements gave everyone else a boost in their confidence. They'd definitely need more than four people going. If that man really did have an army, then this would be an all out war.

Gaara stood up along with Kankuro and Temari. "We will accompany you as well. If this means saving a comrade and the world itself, then we gladly accept."

Shikamaru was next. "From all that I've heard, I think you'll need a strategist. Count me in."

Lee, Tenten, and Hinata followed. Lee said, "This man has no business in threatening any of us! I will eagerly accept this challenge!"

All of the others stood up with excited and determined looks on their faces. All had demanded to come.

Kakashi smiled with his eyes. "Then it's settled! We can take the next few days to prepare for our journey. We also need to figure out a good spot to start searching for his hideout. Furthermore, let's consider the fact that he has followers such as the swordsman Kenshi. Preparations will start tomorrow."

The exhilarated shinobi talked about the upcoming mission as soon as the Hokage was finished speaking. Sakura left almost immediately, saying that she'd left Sasuke home alone.

Gaara and Kakashi shared a worried glance, both knew what might've happened in the short time she'd been gone.

* * *

Sasuke looked at the floor while running both of his hands through his dark hair. He'd thought a lot about what Sakura had told him and what he already knew about Kurushimi. The threat lingered in his mind ever since the festival. If he went to find him, then no one else had to get hurt. The Uchiha still had no clue as to why the man wanted to kill him so much, but that didn't matter. Glancing at his chokuto he'd left at the other end of the couch, Sasuke thought hard for another minute. Even though he didn't know why he was being hunted, all that mattered to him was keeping the others safe.

His thoughts drifted back to the moment where he'd "killed" Kurushimi. He must've made a clone when Sasuke had been hit by the elbow. Pondering some more, he realized that the one he set on fire didn't have a wound from the chokuto.

He spoke to himself. "How could I have been so stupid to think that I killed him that easily?! It had to have been a clone and I fell for it without even thinking about it!"

Sasuke stared out the window into the darkness with a frown. He had made up his mind...

* * *

Sakura opened the door and was ready to tell Sasuke the news. He wasn't in the living room or kitchen. She frowned and narrowed her eyes. Walking quickly to the bathroom and then her bedroom, she didn't see him anywhere. She came back into the living room and noticed that his things were gone. It wasn't just the things he used for combat, but the clothes he'd recently received were gone as well.

Sakura's eyes widened at the realization. "How could I be so stupid and careless?!" she said under her breath. Why couldn't he have waited any longer?! Why did he leave now?!

Grabbing her weapon bag, she quickly attached it to her side and ran out the door.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the cliffhanger, but I'm just mean like that. Also, I'd like to apologize if I don't use everyone's powers to their full extent. There's so many, especially when the Sage of Six Paths gives his to Naruto and Sasuke. It's a lot for a fourteen year old girl to understand and comprehend if you know what I mean. Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Please review!


	11. Trust Your Comrades

**Author's Note: **First of all, if you guys are going to criticize me, then make sure you read my story right first. Second, I'm not trying to make Sasuke seem weak, but do you want me to beat the villains in the chapter they are first seen in?! Third, I know that it's not perfect and I'm trying to improve on my combat writing and this is my first story so cut me some slack. I'm not even a freshman in high school yet either so I make a few more mistakes than the average writer. Also, you have to give me time to explain some of THE VILLAINS' powers first. I'm not mad, just a little frustrated that a few of you aren't giving me the time to explain some things in the story. Sorry for the rant, but just keep it in mind before you go against me. Enjoy!

* * *

"It took you long enough to get back here!" Kenshi yelled as Kurushimi entered a room that was deep inside the hideout.

"I had quite a bit of fun..." he replied with a smirk.

"Don't tease me! Tell me what happened. I'm not the only one who wants to know."

There was a quiet shimmering noise and a chair made of chakra formed in the middle of the room. Kurushimi sat down and told his friend what happened and said that he should only tell the others that it had been a success. After he'd finished, Kenshi smiled eagerly and rubbed his hands together.

"I can't wait to get some action!" the swordsman exclaimed. His smile turned into a frown of worry and his hands froze in place. "What if he doesn't come? It's only four days before the limit."

Kurushimi sighed and glanced at the swordsman. "He will come. But, not alone. The memories of his that I've seen tell me that he'll try to come alone. However, his comrades will not allow it. The Uchiha might get a head start but they'll soon catch up to him. They know his personality so much that I think they've already figured out his intentions."

Kenshi stared at the man in wonder. "Hm, I hope you're right. The more people that come, the more fun I'll have. Who all do you think will come with him? What are their skills?"

Kurushimi pondered for a minute. He hadn't thought of who all might come with Sasuke and he started to look through some of the Uchiha's memories again. Kenshi waited in anticipation.

He finally spoke. "That's a good question. After looking through some of his memories, I think I have an idea. The kyuubi's jinchuriki for sure, Naruto Uzumaki. He's one of the main ones that we need to worry about. Also, I think that even the Hokage and Kazekage will come."

Kenshi gasped. "I understand the Hokage since you told me that Kakashi is his former sensei, but why the Kazekage? When you explained the memories you stored of him, it sounded like they hated each other."

"True," he paused, "but after going to the festival, I think that they seemed on the same page. I also think the same for Gaara's siblings, Kankuro and Temari. Another person I expect to come is a former ANBU named Sai. They weren't on good terms in the memories, but after the festival, I can tell that quite a few things have changed."

Kenshi shook his head. "That many people? I thought Sasuke had done bad things to all of them."

Kurushimi scoffed. "He has, but that's not even half of the people I think are coming. A few more are Shikamaru Nara and Ino Yamanaka. I put Choji Akimichi out of commission for a long time, so he won't be coming."

"Hmm... That was a good idea, taking him out. Now they can't use their team move."

"I purposefully left him standing out of the three. I had already chosen one of them to take out. Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inuzuka along with his dog Akamaru. That's some more."

Kenshi laughed quietly. "Seems like Sasuke has more friends than we thought."

Kurushimi smiled. "It gets better. Rock Lee and Tenten. Their other team member, Neji Hyuga, is dead."

The swordsman frowned. "Aw man. I was kind of hoping I'd get to kill two Hyugas. Well, I guess it's better if I only have to deal with one Byakugan. Anymore people you can think of?"

Kurushimi thought for a minute and then started to chuckle. "How could I have forgotten?!"

Kenshi was eager to hear what his friend was talking about. There were already so many people that he was going to enjoy killing and torturing. "What? Who did you forget?"

The male with strange eyes stopped laughing and had an evil smirk. He turned to the swordsman. "Sasuke's lover... An expert medical kunoichi. Sakura Haruno."

Kenshi was restraining himself from jumping up and down in joy. "Oh man! This is gonna be so much fun! Let me kill her in front of him! I can't wait to see the look on Sasuke's face!"

Kurushimi smirked at his friend's desire. "I agree that it will be a lot of fun. But, as I've already said, she's a medical kunoichi and completely capable of taking care of herself. Nonetheless, Sasuke will probably make sure to be in close range of her at all times."

Kenshi frowned. "Ugh! From what I've already heard, she'll be quite a challenge fighting by herself. Now I have to worry about Uchiha fighting with her at the same time?! I thought you said that he didn't like her that way."

A sigh. "Well, I personally don't like to look into people's love lives but I kept quite a few of his memories with them together. They were very interesting." He turned his tone into one that mocked them. "She still loves him after all he's done. The boy tried to kill her many times, but she didn't care."

Kenshi was highly amused. "That's so sweet. Now you've got me on edge. I call first shot at her. I wanna see how Uchiha reacts."

Kurushimi sighed. "Very well... I'm actually anticipating his reaction as well. Hmm, so it seems that we're dealing with a lot of great shinobi, including the 'New' Legendary Sannin."

Both of the males laughed in excitement. When they settled down, Kurushimi spoke again. "While we wait, I should explain some of my plans. You see, when they enter these caves, I can watch and hear every move they make."

A gasp. "You can? Can I do it, too?"

"No. Only I have the power to do so. It has to do with my eyes. I'll explain more later. Right now, we need to talk about our opponents' skills."

The swords master listened eagerly as his friend told him what to expect out of their incoming enemy.

* * *

Sasuke continued to make his way through the village, not wanting anyone to see him. He had to do this by himself. That man had stepped way out of line when he threatened the innocent people and his comrades. He still didn't know what the male wanted with him, but that was irrelevant at this point. All that mattered to him now was keeping them safe.

Wrapping the bandana around his head, Sasuke continued to make his way past clueless villagers at top speed. Speaking of speed, he wondered if he'd have a reunion with Kenshi. He stopped in a dark corner as thoughts began to invade his mind. He didn't want to leave again and he'd just come back a few weeks ago. Of course everything in his life screwed up again. That was the story of his life, he was a gigantic screwup. This time though, Sasuke would be leaving without saying goodbye. The urge to go back to the apartment hit him hard. Why did it have to come to this? Quickly trying to shut everything out, he took a deep breath and started moving again.

Instead, the Uchiha thought about what would happen if he didn't go. Images of his friends being killed or tortured filled his head. Gritting his teeth, Sasuke realized just how much he hated Kurushimi and Kenshi. They were after him for some unknown reason and they had an army. If Sasuke did not go, then his comrades would take the blow for him. Even if all the innocent people in the world hated him, they didn't deserve to take the damage. Whatever it was he'd done to make Kurushimi come after him, Sasuke was going to find out what it was.

Finally reaching the way out of the village, he looked around one last time and decided that it was safe to walk. Sooner or later, Kakashi would figure out and come after him. Hopefully, Sasuke would've found out where Kurushimi's hideout was by then. He wondered what Naruto and Sakura would do when they found out that he'd left. A small smirk crept onto his lips as he thought of their reactions. They would look for him until the end of time if it came down to it. They were definitely what you could call true friends...

Sasuke stopped again in the middle of the empty road. How could he possibly do this again? This time he wasn't going to say goodbye and he most likely wouldn't be coming back either. That man had a ton of followers and there was no possible way that he could defeat all of them by himself. Once again for perhaps the millionth time, he told himself that no one else had to get hurt if he went. No innocent person would have to suffer for something that was his fault.

Narrowing his eyes and frowning at the ground, he remembered the first time that he'd left. All for power and revenge, all of it. He didn't listen to Kakashi when he told him to let the past go. That was impossible for him to do at the time and he still couldn't do it now. Back then, it was his false hatred for Itachi and now it was how much he'd hurt everyone. The only thing that he had let go was getting "revenge" for Itachi. Clenching his fists, he thought of how he had ignored Itachi's will.

_"My entire life has been a complete waste. No matter what I do, I always end up hurting people! Is that really ALL I can do?!" _Sasuke continued to yell and curse at himself.

Turning his gaze to the night sky, he wondered what he would be leaving behind. His eyes widened slightly at the realization of how similar this was to the first time. What he wanted the most was to have a future here, with his team, his family. However, last time revenge had been more important. This time, saving them was his priority. This time, he would be doing something that helped them, something that was selfless.

_"Maybe then, I can feel like I've earned some of their forgiveness..."_

Sasuke wanted to kill himself on the spot for thinking that. He whispered to himself through gritted teeth, "What am I thinking?! I'm never going to truly earn it! It doesn't even matter anyway, I've made up my mind!"

The last Uchiha started moving again at a slow pace. If he looked back now, he'd only become more infuriated at himself. Sasuke had to do this. It was the only option. Trying to shut out all thoughts of his team and only focusing on finding the hideout was tough.

He had made it all the way to that stupid bench and couldn't help but scowl at it as he walked towards it. The thing he hated most about the village was that horrible bench. In fact, Sasuke wanted nothing more than to burn it to the ground at the moment.

_"Don't think about it. Keep your focus on the mission," _he repeated in his mind over and over.

As impossible as it seemed, he was actually managing to keep the thoughts of what happened there so many years ago in the back of his mind. That was one of his worst memories and it inhabited his nightmares often.

After quickly passing that atrocious bench, he heard a whizzing sound and stopped. Catching the single kunai that had been thrown at his shoulder without turning around, he sighed heavily. He whispered under his breath, "Just when I think I've pushed it to the back of my mind. Only I have this kind of luck..."

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Without looking over his shoulder, he tossed the knife back to his attacker. "Go back Sakura."

She put the weapon back in her bag. "I'm not going back without you. Sasuke, you still have a few days before the limit."

"I'm going alone. He only wants me and no one else will get hurt if I go alone."

She huffed. "So you're just going to walk to your death?!"

"If it means saving everyone else, then yes."

"What would you say if I told you that a lot of others want to come?"

He was slightly surprised and he hesitated to reply. "I'd still say that I'm going alone."

"Do you think I'm going to let you?"

Sasuke thought about that bench. He didn't want to do this again, but it seemed like it was his only choice. Right now, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it, so instead he kept trying to talk her out of it.

He turned his head and smirked. "You're so annoying..."

Sakura rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Gee, I haven't heard that before..."

He frowned. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"You're the one making it harder. Me and a lot of others have agreed to come."

"This is my fight. None of you need to get involved."

She huffed again. "Why do you always try and do everything by yourself?"

Sasuke thought for another minute. This was getting him nowhere at all. If he didn't hurry up and do something, then, well he didn't know what would happen then. All that he knew for sure was that he was losing time to move. The more time he lost, the more time it would give Kakashi to catch up.

Sakura noticed that he was becoming slightly tense and knew what he was probably about to do. As she figured, he was gone in a flash and he appeared behind her. She caught his hand without even turning around. She heard an audible gasp as she turned around to a disbelieving Uchiha, still having a tight grip on his hand.

She sighed. "First of all, you can be easy to predict sometimes. Second, if you're gonna leave me on that bench again, you're gonna look me in the eye and do it this time."

Sasuke was too stunned to speak. Was he really THAT predictable?! Now that she knew of his true intentions, he couldn't bring himself to leave her on the bench again. That was the only reason that he hated the bench so much.

She let go of his hand. "What are you waiting for? I'm not stopping you."

All he could do was stare. She was giving him a free getaway but he couldn't take it. His heart started to thump loudly. She really knew how to pressure him, that's for sure. Sasuke finally closed his gaping mouth and they stared each other down in silence. After what seemed like forever, she pushed him back and moved out of the way.

Sasuke was utterly confused until a hand made of sand moved his bandana so that it covered his eyes. Then, as he reached up to pull it off, the sand covered both of his hands and locked them together behind his back.

"Now!" the Kazekage shouted.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a strong gust of wind from Temari's fan made Sasuke fly backwards. He flew for a short time and his back slammed into something hard. He heard the object click in front of him and he assumed that he was trapped inside one of Kankuro's puppets. There was another creaking noise and something sharp pierced his arm. After struggling for the next few seconds, he realized that the thing that pierced him was some kind of paralyzing poison.

"What took you so long?" Sakura asked casually.

Temari closed her fan and spoke. "We would've been here sooner but Naruto kept trying to stop us and come here first."

The sound of a lot of feet plopping next to them was heard. Naruto started yelling. "Let me at him! I'm gonna kick the crap outta that idiot!"

"It's already been taken care of," Kankuro said as he came around from behind the puppet. "By the way Sasuke, if you somehow break my puppet, then I'll snap your neck while you're still paralyzed."

Sasuke was still in shock at the sudden attack and started to struggle again with no luck. His body had been completely paralyzed and he had gotten livid. "Let me out!" he screamed.

More footsteps came towards the puppet. Kakashi said, "Sasuke you are not going anywhere tonight. We've decided that we're coming with you."

"We?" Sasuke already knew the answer to that. It was going to be Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura.

The Hokage cleared his throat and walked back to the group of shinobi. Sasuke's mouth dropped in shock as he realized how many people were there. Kakashi cleared his throat. "Me, Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Ino, Shikamaru, Hinata, Shino, Kiba and Akamaru, Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Lee, Tenten, and you."

"No! I can't let any of you come! This only concerns me!" Sasuke shouted desperately.

Naruto laughed. "When someone attacks our comrade, then it concerns all of us!"

Everyone nodded or grunted in agreement.

Sasuke was in deep disbelief. All of them had agreed to come. The thought was stained into his mind until he truly comprehended it. "Why?" he asked.

Kakashi gave another speech. "Whether you like it or not Sasuke, we're coming. We consider you a comrade and as Naruto just said, when someone attacks one of our comrades, it becomes a concern to all of us."

Naruto spoke again with a serious tone. "We trust you Sasuke. Now it's time for you to trust your comrades."

Sasuke frowned. He had no choice but to accept the fact that they were coming. If he tried to leave again, they'd stop him in a heartbeat. He heard another clicking noise and Kankuro's puppet opened. Sakura removed the bandana from his eyes and he saw every single one of his comrades smiling and looking eager.

The Hokage was apparently waiting for an answer from the paralyzed Uchiha. Sasuke glanced at everyone one last time. "Hn..."

Naruto jumped in joy. "I was gonna kick your butt if you still said no!"

"Preparations begin tomorrow," Kakashi said. As the others confirmed that this was the end of their meeting, Sakura pulled Sasuke out of the puppet. She wasn't even trying to be gentle either, letting his head fall facedown into the dirt. Her way of moving him so that he could breathe was by kicking his head to one side.

"I'll take care of this by myself," she stated. After her proclamation, the others slowly made their way back to the village. Naruto cackled at his fallen friend as he passed.

After everyone had left, Sasuke glanced up at the kunoichi towering over him. "When will I be able to move again?" he asked boredly.

Taking one of his arms, she began to drag him back to the apartment. He knew that she could've picked him up with one arm if she wanted, but he guessed that this was part of his "punishment". He grunted as his face hit a rock.

She finally answered. "Probably not until tomorrow morning."

He sighed, which quickly turned into another grunt as he hit a bigger rock.

He tried to speak without getting dirt in his mouth. "You're not going to leave me alone for long again, are you?" He knew the answer before she even began to reply.

"Nope!"

* * *

Kenshi watched as some of the others trained. Leaning against the damp wall, he thought about the enemy's skills. It was definitely going to be a tough fight, even with the size of his and Kurushimi's army. To be honest, Kenshi didn't think that any of the people in the army were up for the challenge. They were worthless to him most of the time and he could care less if any of them died. He watched as Kurushimi walked over to him. There was something that was bothering him, sometimes it even confused him.

Kenshi looked at Kurushimi from the corner of his eye. "Tell me again why we're after Sasuke. He isn't the one who actually caused the problem. I thought we ended it a long time ago."

Kurushimi stared at the swordsman in complete disbelief. "Have you forgotten all about what happened to us?! We must rid this world of all Uchiha, even at the cost of our own lives."

Kenshi's head twitched at the question. "Of course I haven't forgotten! But..." He trailed off.

Kurushimi sighed in annoyance. "Exactly. All Uchiha are evil and Sasuke must be eliminated. Anyway, after all he's done to make this world suffer, I think that we'd be doing everyone a favor."

Kenshi pushed his back off the wall and faced the other male. "What about the others? They haven't done anything."

The man with strange eyes scoffed. "Anyone who helps an Uchiha has committed a crime in my book. When Sasuke and anyone who helps him is dead, no more innocent people have to die."

Kenshi narrowed his eyes and frowned at the ground. Finally, he nodded. "I guess you're right. I don't know what I was thinking! They are criminals if they help Sasuke!"

"Don't get anymore of those crazy thoughts stuck in your head. We are going to succeed with our plans in the end."

"I don't know. Neither of us expected him to catch up with me. I thought you said that his Sharingan wouldn't be able to keep up!"

"I said that it wouldn't be able to follow you for awhile. However, I didn't expect him to get adjusted to your speed that fast. Your abilities are still a mystery to him though. That fight was merely a test so we could see his abilities."

Kenshi smirked. "He didn't seem to have that many!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself. We didn't see half of his powers."

The scarred man gasped. "What?! If that wasn't the half of it, then we're going to get destroyed this time! Why didn't he use more of his powers?"

The male with strange eyes looked at the others training and pondered. "Did something that you say set him off? Did he get frustrated with your movements?"

The swords master laughed; a lightbulb had gone off. "Whenever we talked about that girl, his attitude and movements changed completely."

A small smile. "Interesting..."

They watched their training followers in silence for the next few minutes. Kurushimi noticed that his friend was still acting weird, so he spoke again.

"Think of it like this. We already know what sets him off, what makes him forget to be careful. Even if he does have extraordinary abilities, how can he make use of them if he can't control himself? That's exactly what happened in our fight a year ago."

The swordsman felt a rush of confidence overtake him. "Hmm... This seems too easy. We already know one of his weaknesses, so I guess that means we have an advantage there."

"Kenshi, as I've already said, don't get ahead of yourself. That definitely is something we can use against him, but that can also make him unpredictable and stronger. We got lucky last time that it set him off in the wrong way. This time, he will be coming with her and lots of others that will keep him under control. I also think that he's going to know what's coming and keep himself in check."

"So we don't have an advantage then?"

Kurushimi huffed. "I didn't say that. What I'm trying to say is that we need to test him again and see his reaction."

"Don't forget that I've already called first shot at the girl. When will we make our first move?"

"They haven't left the village yet. Be patient. I still need to decide what we are going to do first. It all depends on what they do." After finishing, Kurushimi started to walk away. He stopped and tilted his head to the side. "Kenshi, you shouldn't underestimate the two of us."

His friend gave him a look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"It won't matter if he can keep up with you or not. I have plans and all you need to do is stay alive." He didn't let Kenshi have a chance to respond before he began to walk again.

The scarred male stared after his friend in silence. He still had second thoughts about that "no more innocent people will have to die" thing. Even though he'd agreed in saying that Sasuke and his friends were criminals, his mind contradicted it.

* * *

Sasuke didn't say anything else for awhile. He was getting extremely annoyed with the amount of dirt gathering on his clothes and the side of his face, but he knew that he probably deserved it. When they made it to the apartment stairs, he squeezed his eyes shut along with gritting his teeth as his head thunked against each step. She was still dragging him when she opened the door. She left him in the doorframe when she went inside.

"Are you just gonna leave me here?" he asked with indifference.

She came back with a box of wet wipes. "You're not coming into my apartment when you're covered with dirt."

"Who's fault is that?" he asked as she sat him up against the railing.

She rolled her eyes and scrubbed his face until it was red. After she finished his face, Sakura sighed and stared at his filthy clothing.

"Are you going to make me sleep on the couch naked?" he asked mockingly.

She kicked his stomach and dragged him in while shutting the door. Then, she threw him on the couch and adjusted him so that he was facing the ceiling. Placing his cloak and chokuto down beside the couch, she asked, "Is that a good position?"

"Hn," he replied. He watched as she walked to her room. "Lock the front door!" he yelled after her. Her response was shutting her bedroom door. He frowned and shouted again, "If anyone attacks us in the middle of the night, it's not my fault!"

Sakura didn't respond and Sasuke started to stare at the ceiling, not that he had much of a choice. He thought of how eventful the last hour or so had been. He knew that a couple of people were going to insist on coming, but never that many. Now, there was hope, a chance. Kurushimi had never said that Sasuke had to come alone, and now some of the greatest shinobi to ever exist were going after him. A burst of confidence surged through the Uchiha's paralyzed body. That surge of confidence was quickly replaced by a wave of worry. This man had an army, so how could a small group take all of them on without a casualty? Sasuke thought about what Naruto had recently said.

_"We trust you Sasuke. Now it's time for you to trust your comrades."_

The corners of the Uchiha's mouth curved upward to form a small, barely visible, smile. His best friend was right, the one thing he needed to do the most right now was trust his comrades. These people were some of the best ninja to exist and they had always stood their ground when a tough challenge came along. They'd fight and protect each other until the very end. The only things that Sasuke needed to be concerned with at the moment were the preparations and finding Kurushimi's hideout.

He closed his eyes and thought of everyone going on the mission and Naruto's words. He whispered to himself.

"I'd trust all of you until the very end..."

* * *

**IMPORTANT NOTICE: FROM THIS MOMENT ON, ANY CRITICIZING REVIEWS WITH CURSING/SWEARING OR HATEFUL TERMS WILL RESULT IN BEING REPORTED AND/OR BLOCKED! IF YOU CRITICIZE, DO IT IN A CIVILIZED WAY AND GIVE ME SOME TIPS ON HOW TO FIX THE ISSUE AND IMPROVE MY WRITING!**

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed! Please give me time to explain things in the story before you harshly judge it. I can't explain everything in one chapter. It takes time and it also is part of the story, so be patient. As I said in my first note and the notice above, please think about those reasons before you criticize certain things...


	12. Kiss!

**Author's Note: **Okay, I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who gets ticked when people say that Sakura is useless. For one, she's a medical ninja and her first priority is NOT on the battlefield. Then, there's the people who say that sasusaku doesn't make sense. I've even heard some people say that it supports domestic violence. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That just shows that they're probably upset narusaku fans that are desperate. I don't hate narusaku fans, just the fact that they keep making pitiful excuses. To be honest, I personally think that sasusaku made more sense than naruhina. Don't get me wrong, I do love naruhina. Oh, and last but not least, let's not forget the ones who say that Sarada is Karin's daughter just because she has glasses. Get over it already and stop making excuses!

I apologize for that but I needed to get it off my chest. Anyway, this chapter is pretty much all sasusaku. Enjoy!

**READ THE NOTE AT THE BOTTOM PLEASE BECAUSE I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU GUYS THAT I MUST KNOW!**

* * *

_"In__ the next life," Naruto began, "you won't be an Uchiha... And I won't be the jinchuriki of the kyuubi and maybe, we'll finally be able to understand each other in the afterlife."_

_Sasuke stared at the Uzumaki with an indifferent expression. Naruto spoke again._

_"So save up your hatred and take it all out on me. I will shoulder your hatred and die with you."_

_Sasuke narrowed his eyes in confusion._

_Naruto gave a gigantic smile. "Because you are my friend..."_

_A shift. This time it wasn't a memory. _

_Sasuke stood in the middle of nowhere. Naruto was across from him and he had a saddened expression. The Uzumaki looked up and his features changed so that they were full of hatred._

_"I shouldn't have tried to save you. You're a worthless coward and all you do is hurt everyone!"_

_The Uchiha gasped slightly. This wasn't like Naruto at all. _

_Suddenly, Sasuke lost all control of his body and launched forward to grab Naruto's neck. The Uzumaki didn't resist as the Chidori went through his heart. Then, more people appeared. His family, comrades, and the rest of his team. One by one, he murdered all of them and laughed hysterically at the blood on his hands and the bodies on the ground._

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes groggily and breathed heavily. That was the first time in a few days that he hadn't screamed when he woke up from a nightmare. He realized that he had control of his body and slowly moved his hands so that he could see them. Both his real hand and the heavily bandaged one were both clean, no blood. He sighed and sat up, groaning quietly at how stiff he still was.

Four in the morning, of course. Waking up early was normal by now because of those horrible dreams. Sasuke tried to get up, but collapsed onto the couch again almost immediately. The paralyzing poison hadn't completely worn off in his legs apparently. Huffing, the annoyed male remembered what happened last night and that today was the start of preparations. He wondered if all of them were truly up for this, going after Kurushimi. If they weren't then why would they have agreed to come?

Pushing the dumb thought to the back of his mind, Sasuke attempted to get up once again. No luck. Glancing at his chokuto, he grabbed it and used it for support as he forced his legs to move for a third time. This time, he was able to pull himself up and wobbled slightly. Grabbing the arm of the couch, he set out at a slow pace for the bathroom. About halfway there, he accidentally stepped on his other foot while trying to gain control of his legs and fell down with a loud thud.

The noise of the thud was nothing compared to Sasuke's cursing, which made Sakura open her bedroom door with an annoyed expression. As soon as she saw what happened, she let a smirk settle on her face. "Need help?" she asked mockingly and tiredly at the same time.

The male sat up and glared at her. "I can handle myself. Go back to bed," he said harshly as he pulled himself up for another try.

Sakura leaned against the doorframe as she watched him clumsily limp to the bathroom. As soon as he locked the bathroom door, she rolled her eyes and closed her door, plopping down onto the bed and attempting to get some more sleep.

Sasuke held on to the sides of the sink as he attempted to splash his face with cold water at the same time. He thought about what the preparations would include. The most important thing that they needed to figure out was the location of Kurushimi's hideout. Then, the most likely objective would be discovering the number of his forces. He pushed the second thought out of his mind, deciding only to focus on the first task. The cabin in the Cloud was highly unlikely. After he'd woken up at one of their hospitals, Sasuke told the Raikage where the fight had taken place. They searched the site and only found the aftermath of the battle, nothing inside the cabin and nothing that gave him a lead as to where Kenshi had fled.

After making his way back to the couch (not falling this time), Sasuke pondered about possible locations for what seemed like forever. He had eventually ruled out all locations outside of the Land of Fire, deciding that it was the only option. The decision had been made based on the fact that Kurushimi had to somehow have a way of knowing when Sasuke left the village.

He glanced at the clock and was slightly shocked at how long he had sat on the couch wondering. Six in the morning. Now that he finished thinking, he wondered what to do next. It was still too early for everyone to be up and discussing preparations. Honestly, he felt bored. It was never a feeling that came often in the past few years, but ever since he had been given someone to talk to, it came a lot when he was alone.

Sasuke stood up and paced in front of the couch, trying to occupy his attention. He reminisced about how he had been acting since his return. The moment he had first seen Sakura again, everything had become different. His attitude around her had changed a lot, that was for sure. Now that he thought about it, he didn't know why it had changed so much. Instead of trying to act like he couldn't care less about anything, he was actually, well, nice for once. Sasuke frowned as he pondered. To be honest, it felt good that he could act more freely around someone. Why did he only feel like that around her though?

Sighing, he stopped and looked at Sakura's bedroom door and then the clock. It had hardly been five minutes since he had last checked it. He wanted to curse himself for feeling the need to have her presence near him, or at least where he could talk to her.

Right on time, she opened her bedroom door and looked like she was ready to kill someone. "I haven't been able to go back to sleep because of you!"

He sat on the couch. "Hn, sorry."

She sat down next to him. "How long have you been up?"

"A few hours. I thought about locations where we could start searching."

"Don't tell me now. Wait until we see the others so they'll know, too."

"Hn." He stared at the floor. Gosh, he hated the silence that always seemed to interrupt their conversations, but he didn't know what to say next.

She glanced at him and hesitated. Something was bothering her about when he had faced off against Kurushimi and Kenshi. It was weird and abnormal for him, so she decided to just go ahead and ask. "Sasuke?"

He turned his head towards her.

"About your battle with _those_ two..."

He waited with curiousity.

"I don't mean this in the wrong way, but why didn't you use more of your powers against them?"

Sasuke turned his gaze back to the floor. Why didn't he do that? He could've used Perfect Susanoo and it probably would've been a short battle. Then again, he remembered how angry he had gotten when they had brought Sakura up. For some reason, it had infuriated him to the point that he forgot everything about strategy and it clouded his judgement. Instead of telling her that, he shrugged and said, "I guess I just didn't think about it."

She narrowed her eyes. It wasn't like Sasuke to "forget" about his own move set. "So did you 'forget' in our fight when you went easy on me?"

He gasped slightly in surprise. Opening his mouth to defend himself, she quickly interrupted.

"Do you really take me for that much of a fool Sasuke? I'm not mad, just curious."

He closed his mouth. He had hoped that she wouldn't find out about that, but he cursed himself for thinking it was that easy to get it past her. "Hn."

"That's not a good answer."

Something inside of him broke, severing his resistance that held the truth under lock and key. "In our fight, it was because I couldn't do something like I did on the bridge again."

She stared at him in wonder. Sasuke had the urge to set himself on fire, but wasn't showing it on the outside. Sakura turned her gaze forward, speechless at his confession. Wanting to change the subject, she quickly spoke again. "So did you figure out anything else besides locations?"

Grateful that she had switched topics, he answered. "Not really. I want to know what that style Kurushimi uses is. That and why he said that I couldn't copy it."

She pondered. "I'm pretty sure that it has to deal with his eyes. I've never seen any others like them. The orb surrounding him at the festival, was it the same as the first time you saw it?"

He nodded. "It looks like chakra. Even if it is, my Susanoo's sword couldn't break through it. Neither could the black flames."

"Hmm..." She rested her head on the back of the couch and thought again. "We need to learn more about what those eyes can do and how he has them."

Sasuke rested his head on his propped up arm. "Something else we need to know, why couldn't I keep up with Kenshi? I've been able to keep up with everyone else I've faced, so why not him?"

She shook her head. "This is all so weird. If you could hardly keep up with him while using the Sharingan, then how can the rest of us?"

He narrowed his eyes. She was right. If her or someone else faced the swordsman, then how would they be able to keep up with him? "If we see him again, I'll be the one to fight him."

Sakura didn't protest. "We're going to figure out what all of this means. I just wonder how strong their 'army' is..."

That was something that Sasuke hadn't thought about much. He'd been so caught up with Kenshi and Kurushimi that the threat of their followers didn't cross his mind. Confidence rushed through him at the thought of the ninja that were coming on the mission. He smirked and snorted louder than he intended, making her turn her head in shock. "Hn! It doesn't matter how many there are or how strong they are, we're still going to be the ones to come out on top!"

She smiled, which quickly turned into a smirk of her own. "I didn't think that you were one to give an inspiring speech."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "That's how it's going to end though." At least, that's what he hoped...

They were silent for the next minute until Sasuke spoke, trying to start up another conversation. "What do you think preparations will include today?"

"Probably just figuring out locations. I guess we already have an idea since you've come up with something."

"Hn..."

There it was again, that deadly silence that frustrated the both of them. Neither could figure out why it was always bound to happen between the two of them. They always seemed to run out of things to say around the other. Sasuke was desperately thinking of something to say. Sakura coughed a few times, trying to get rid of the silence for a few moments.

The Uchiha had gotten tired of thinking and said the first thing that popped into his head. "Do you want to go on a walk with me?"

Sakura was surprised at his sudden invitation and stuttered. "Uh, s-sure."

Before they knew it, they were in the middle of the village, looking for nothing in particular. Sasuke made sure to keep them away from anything that involved men's clothing.

"Where do you want to go?" Sasuke asked with a yawn.

"I don't know. A lot of places have been closed since the attack. They're waiting for the Hokage to give the final decision."

"Kakashi still hasn't told the ones that aren't going?"

"No. I don't know what he's waiting for."

They reached a section in the village that was covered with posters. Sakura walked over and inspected one with Sasuke following close behind.

She gasped. "So that's why he's waiting!"

Sasuke looked at her in confusion. She handed the poster to him. He looked it over while she talked.

"He's waiting because he wants to reassure the villages that nothing else is going to go wrong."

He understood everything after he had read the poster. Apparently, a special event was going to take place that day. Fights that were free to go and see between genin of all nations.

He smirked. "Kakashi has really outdone himself this time."

"It's probably for the best though. Not a lot of people have come out of their homes since the attack."

Sasuke wanted to push the thought of their upcoming mission out of his mind for now. He wanted to enjoy the rest of their time in the village, just in case... and this was perfect.

"Do you want to go?" he asked casually.

"Since when do you like to do anything fun?" she asked, beaming.

He frowned. "Do you want me to take you or not?"

She nodded.

They started walking again when Sasuke spoke. "We better go now if we want good seats."

* * *

Sasuke's eyelids drooped and he was trying really hard not to fall asleep. Him and Sakura were one of the first few to arrive and get seated in the arena. They had gotten good seats in the front row on the second floor.

Kakashi had told them to stay after the event was done so that they could start preparing. The Hokage was now at the entrance welcoming everyone. You could tell by the way he was speaking that he was really nervous and embarassed.

The Uchiha's eyes had just closed when Sakura shook him awake. He looked at her from the corner of his eye as she began to lecture him.

"When you said that we should go ahead and get seats, you could've told me that it didn't start for the next couple of hours! You could've taken a nap instead of falling asleep now."

He stretched and yawned. "Hn. I'll be awake when the fights start. And would you rather have had the front row seats at the bottom where there's hardly any protection from their moves?"

She leaned back in her seat. "I guess you're right..."

Sasuke began to nod off again but quickly shot up when someone grabbed him by the shoulder and nearly knocked him over the railing.

"I can't wait to kick that idiot Kurushimi's butt! What about you?!" Naruto shouted as he continued to push Sasuke into the railing.

Sasuke finally managed to get Naruto off of him and he maneuvered himself behind the Uzumaki. Putting his best friend in a headlock and grabbing an arm with his free hand, Sasuke shoved Naruto to the edge of the railing. "We aren't supposed to say anything about the mission yet you idiot!" the livid Uchiha whispered through gritted teeth.

As Naruto struggled, Sakura started to get up and break them apart when someone behind them spoke up.

"S-Sasuke please don't hurt my husband," Hinata said with a hint of worry.

Sasuke turned and saw her expression, so he quickly let Naruto go. "Sorry," he apologized.

Hinata relaxed when her husband slowly walked over to her. "Oh, it's okay. Just with the mission coming up and all..." After trailing off, she gave Naruto a scolding hit to the shoulder. "He's right! Don't talk about the mission yet!"

As the couple argued and took their seats next to Sasuke and Sakura, the Uchiha sat back down, still livid.

The seats around them began to fill up, and before they knew it, everyone going on the mission against Kurushimi sat in the same section. Everyone except for Kakashi, who was about to announce the start of the event. Excited villagers chatted from all directions. Sasuke was surprised that everyone had seemingly forgotten about the attack at the festival. Then, he remembered why this event had even happened and silently praised Kakashi for his efforts. The current Hokage certainly knew how to make the best of a tough situation, that was for sure.

Kakashi stepped into the middle of the arena and everyone went silent. He cleared his throat and looked around at the completely filled stadium. "Welcome everyone! I hope that you all enjoy this free event today! Genin of all nations have come here to take each other on in matches that are sure to excite!"

Cheers erupted from all areas. Most of the people piled in the arena started chanting for their nation. When everyone finally settled down, Kakashi officially started the event. "Without further ado, I will announce the first match."

As the Hokage finished, the first competitors came out from seperate openings, waving to where their native villages were. Sasuke watched in interest as the two boys, one from Suna and the other from Ame, took their starting positions. As soon as the match began, their native villages started shouting to show their support.

The battle proved to be one that was definitely worth while. Many minutes of intense fighting rolled on with the boys still going at full strength. The crowd gasped in awe at every amazing move.

Suddenly, the boy from Suna launched an attack that was nearly impossible to follow with the regular eye. Sasuke put a hand to the right side of his face so that the others couldn't see his activated Sharingan. He could easily see every move that the boy made without even activating the Mangekyo. Every strike, every drop of blood and sweat, every twitch from the one being attacked was so clear. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth as he remembered Kenshi. All of the people that Sasuke had ever faced or watched, he'd been able to keep up with them by using the Sharingan. Why not Kenshi?! How come this guy was the one he struggled with?! Heck, he'd even been able to beat Madara Uchiha for crying out loud! What was it that made Kenshi so special then?! Sasuke tried to remember if anything seemed abnormal in their fight. Only at the very end had he been able to see Kenshi's movements, but even then they were a blur. Nothing came to mind and he dug both of his hands into his hair with frustration.

Sakura squeezed his shoulder and leaned closer so that none of the others could hear. "I know that you're frustrated. We'll figure out all about _that_ later. Just enjoy the show!"

Deactivating his Sharingan, Sasuke turned his attention back to the battle, trying not to focus on Kenshi or Kurushimi.

After countless entertaining matches, Kakashi announced that there would be a short intermission after the next one. Naruto got up and stretched before the next competitors entered the arena. When he sat back down, he heard a crunching noise and remembered that he'd kept a small flyer advertising the event. The Uzumaki took it out of his pocket and examined it after making sure that the fight hadn't started yet. His eyes lit up in surprise and curiosity as he noticed what was written at the bottom.

Technology had become quite advanced over the last few years. Naruto remembered this as he glanced at the gigantic screens around the tops of the arena that allowed people who were further up to see what was going on. Then, he moved his gaze to the person directing the camera that broadcasted the fight to the screens.

"Hey Hinata, I have to go take a leak and uh... get food! Yeah, that's it! Anyway, I probably won't be back for some time so..."

Naruto didn't give his wife a chance to answer before he sped off with an evil laugh echoing through the aisles.

"What was that about?" Sakura asked.

Hinata shrugged before turning her attention back to the battle below.

* * *

Naruto had made it halfway to the other side of the arena. An evil grin was still plastered to his face. He was trying to let the fight end before he had reached his destination. But he needed to make it before the intermission if he was going to accomplish his mission.

As the troublesome Uzumaki bided his time, he thought cautiously to himself. _"This is_ _gonna be awesome! They'll probably hate me after this, but it's definitely worth it! I can't wait to see the look on their faces! Especially Sasuke's..."_

When Naruto had finally reached the man with the camera, he waited just a little longer before he launched his plan. The two genin locked in an intense battle looked to be on the verge of giving out, so Naruto decided it was go time.

Tapping the man on the shoulder, he took out the flyer again and showed it to him. After a confused nod, the blue eyed boy pointed in the direction of where his friends sat.

"I get it now kid," the male said with a smile before turning around. He pointed. "Those two, right?"

"Yep!" Naruto shouted. "Can I stay here so I can get a good view on that screen?"

"Sure!"

* * *

Kakashi announced the winner of the match and her village screamed in pleasure.

Someone else came into the middle of the arena and quickly spoke. "Before you all go relieve yourselves and get refreshments, we have to do the special thing we promised at the bottom of the flyer!"

Everyone eagerly sat down and looked up at the screens. Sasuke did the same, not knowing what the man meant.

"Now let's see which two lucky people are gonna be caught by the Kiss Cam!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sat back. "This is stupid," he told Sakura.

"Oh c'mon! Lighten up! I think it's cute," she responded.

Sasuke crossed his arms and looked down at his lap. After a few more seconds, he glanced at Sakura to see that she had started to blush madly. Narrowing his eyes, he slowly started to look up at the screen when the man spoke again.

"Looks like we have our two lucky winners!"

Sasuke gasped and set a large frown on his face as he caught view of who was on the screen, a small blush starting to make its way to his face. Pictured on the screen was none other than Sakura and himself...

Everyone around them stared and encouraged them. Neither moved, still frozen in place by shock.

The man in the middle of the arena chuckled. "Go ahead young man! Kiss her already!"

_"You have got to be kidding me..." _Sasuke thought to himself. The idea of him kissing someone in public had never been a want or need for the Uchiha. To be honest, he never thought about kissing anyone at all.

The stares and encouraging yells only got louder. He glanced at Sakura again and noticed that she was still frozen in place. A chant broke out in a matter of a second. Sasuke was embarrassed beyond belief. Sakura felt exactly the same way.

"KISS! KISS! KISS!"

_"If I do this then they'll shut up. But, IN PUBLIC?!"_ he continued to scream at himself.

"KISS! KISS! KISS!"

The pressure was getting to the disgruntled Uchiha as they continued to chant. He couldn't stand everyone staring at them like this.

"Oh c'mon young man! Don't disappoint everyone here including that young lady!"

The Uchiha clamped down on his seat in fury. He didn't move. Everyone started to moan in annoyance.

"Well it looks like he isn't going to do it. Instead, let's have her kiss the young man behind her!"

Sasuke looked back to see a startled Gaara with his face the same color as his hair. The chants started again and Sakura nervously turned around to face the Kazekage.

_"HECK NO!" _Sasuke thought to himself. His feet unconsciously began to tap at a rapid pace. The bangs concealing his Rinnegan floated in front of his other eye as he looked down.

Gaara and Sakura gave each other a look that said "let's go ahead and get this over with". They began to slowly lean in with everyone cheering excitedly. Sasuke looked like he was about to have a panic attack when he looked up again. They had almost made it when-

_"SCREW IT!"_

Sasuke launched himself over the arm of his seat and grabbed the sides of Sakura's face, launching his lips into hers. She got over her shock in a few seconds and started to kiss him back.

Naruto was grinning hysterically at the scene that was in clear view on the screens. His plan had definitely worked, that was for sure. However, his life might very possibly be in jeopardy after the event.

Boy, did Sasuke have her in a tight lip lock, making sure that she couldn't break away and be told to kiss someone else again. To be honest, Sasuke didn't know that he had it in himself to kiss like this.

They finally broke apart when they'd run out of air. They stared at each other with widened eyes and gasped for air. Slowly, they took their hands off of the other and Sasuke maneuvered back over the arm of the chair, leaning back in his seat. Cheers and claps erupted from all directions and the man below beamed.

"Now that's more like it!"

After all the cheers and claps settled down, Sasuke and Sakura looked at the other end of the arena when they heard a laugh. Naruto was right beside the camera guy and waved to them. They shared a quick and knowing glance before jumping up and going after the Uzumaki. Naruto looked around for places to hide before his friends would get a chance to decapitate him; no luck.

Before Naruto knew it, Sasuke was already speeding his way towards him. The yellow haired male ran as fast as he possibly could to the stairs.

"It was just a joke Sasuke! I didn't mean anything bad by it!"

Sasuke's response was filling his hand with lightning. Naruto dodged a few more people before turning around and a Rasengan formed in his hand. "If that's the way it's gonna be then fine!"

They ran at full speed towards the other and everyone in the arena looked from all angles at the two ninja about to clash.

"NARUTO!"

"SASUKE!"

A second before they connected, Kakashi appeared out of nowhere and twisted them both around, launching them into the arena wall. This was déjà vu...

The two friends blinked and coughed as they realized that their bodies were stuck in the wall with one half on each end. Naruto formed another Rasengan and was about to strike the wall when the Hokage spoke from inside the arena where their lower halves were located.

"Naruto, if you even scratch this wall, I won't let you go on the mission! Sasuke, if you try and do the same, I'll lock you in prison for the night!"

Sasuke acted like he hadn't heard the Hokage's threats at all and he started to curse his best friend. "A joke?! That's your idea of a joke you idiot?!"

Naruto slapped his hands on the wall. "I was just having fun! Something you don't know the meaning of! It looked to me like you were jealous!"

"Say that again and I'll cut your-" Sasuke didn't have time to finish before he was yanked out of the damaged wall by the leg. His head clanked against the railing and he heard Naruto's do the same. Both males rubbed their heads and slowly opened their eyes to see an infuriated pink haired kunoichi towering over them. Before she could pummel them, Kakashi got in the way with a nervous smile.

"Sakura I know that you're really upset but let me deal with them right now. Okay?"

The fuming female backed down and Kakashi breathed a small sigh of relief. He began to lecture them while constantly glancing over his shoulder at Sakura. She was impatiently tapping her foot and deciding which teammate she wanted to hurt the most.

After the lecture and the end of the event, preparations had taken place. Just as Sasuke and Sakura thought, the main topic had been locations. The Uchiha told everyone of his thoughts on the matter and they ended up agreeing with his judgement. Him and Sakura did not look at each other once in the time of the meeting. Both were still confused and embarassed. When the meeting concluded, both were the first to leave, not wanting to hear what everyone else thought of their "intimate" moment.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura continued to walk back to the apartment in silence. He had been thinking hard about everything that happened in the arena.

_"Was Naruto right? Am I jealous? No! No way! Why would I be jealous?! I don't like her like that. Why did I kiss her then?"_

Sakura was just as lost as he was.

_"I am so confused! Why the heck did Sasuke kiss me?! Was he jealous?! No! What am I thinking?! There has to be some good reason then!"_

After a few more minutes of them pondering, Sakura couldn't help it anymore. She had to ask. "Hey, Sasuke? Why did you... you know?"

He had known that the question would pop up sooner or later, but he didn't have an answer yet. Going through the event again, he thought he had found the true reason. "You said that you didn't like Gaara in that way and I thought it would make both of you feel uncomfortable. So..."

She nodded slowly and a sad frown settled on her face. "Oh... well thanks I guess."

_"What was I hoping for? He's never going to feel that way and I have to accept it..."_

Sasuke glanced at her and noticed her sorrowful expression. Well, he told her the truth. He just wanted to save her and Gaara from being uncomfortable. That was it. Right?

Thinking of something to cheer Sakura up, he came to a conclusion that his next question would be something that he was slightly interested in knowing. He smirked. "How did I do?"

She turned her head in surprise. "What?"

"Give me a rating. Naruto being the worst and Hokage being the best."

She laughed at his scale. "Hmm... I give it a Sasuke."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is that good or bad?"

"That's for you to decide. Besides, I think that there's another reason why you kissed me."

Sasuke frowned in curiosity. "Another reason?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb."

His expression didn't change. The Uchiha had no clue what she was talking about.

She leaned closer. "I'm still telling your children that your first kiss was with Naruto."

Sasuke stopped walking and huffed. He was slightly relieved that she didn't think it was because he was jealous or something. At the same time, he was irritated. He had managed to keep that awful memory in the back of his mind for years. "That was an accident and you know it!"

"Doesn't matter. It was still your first kiss," Sakura replied with a laugh.

His smirk returned. "All I like to remember about that was the devastated look on your face."

She glared at him and watched as he made his way in front of her. Sometimes, Sasuke really had a lot of fun teasing her. He leaned closer and whispered mockingly, "I remember you saying something like 'How dare Naruto! Sasuke's first kiss was supposed to be with me!'."

She punched his arm and pushed him out of the way. "That's not what I said."

"Hn, doesn't matter," he mocked again.

They contently thought about how easy it was to joke about things like this. Although, Sakura thought it was weird for Sasuke to be acting in a joking manner. She pushed it to the back of her mind as she remembered another question she wanted to ask. She hesitated, thinking it was embarrassing. "Where did you learn to kiss like that anyway?"

He chuckled quietly in amusement. "You're actually the first person I've kissed. I'm never going to count the dobe."

She gasped in surprise. "Really? What about that other girl? Umm... Karin."

The last Uchiha shuddered at the thought of Karin. "No! Not in a million years. She was even more annoying than you if that's even possible."

"What's the difference between me and her then if she was as annoying as me?"

He could think of a billion reasons that Sakura was much better than Karin, but he said the first thing that came to mind. "Because unlike you, she didn't mature."

"What do you mean?"

"Hn... Like when you made me take off my shirt to heal me. She probably would've drooled and flirted with me. You're usually calm. Even though you stare..."

Sakura playfully punched him again. "What is wrong with you? You never joke around."

He shrugged. "I guess it's because I missed seeing you blush everytime I look at you."

Right after the words came out of his mouth, she blushed.

"Like that," he said.

"Why do you like that?"

Another shrug.

"You sure you didn't get drunk at the arena or something?" she asked.

He nodded. "What about you? Who was your first kiss?"

Sasuke questioned himself for asking that. For some reason, he had to know. Oddly enough, even thoughts of murdering or hurting that person came to mind.

She shyly scratched her head. "No one. I'm not going to count this because it wasn't real."

The hurt in Sakura's eyes was nothing compared to a giant pang of an unknown feeling rushing through Sasuke. All he knew was that it wasn't a good feeling. After another minute, the Uchiha swallowed before replying. "Oh. Then... I guess I won't count it either..."

Another few seconds passed before he thought of some other joking remark to lighten the mood. "If you don't count this one, then I'm not counting the one with Naruto."

Sakura smiled and they continued to joke around on their way back to the apartment.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hmm... I think that there's probably one more reason why he kissed her. What do you guys think?

To be honest, I hated both Sasuke and Sakura at the beginning of the series. As it progressed, I ended up liking their seperate characters. The part where Sasuke left the first time though, I got a major case of the feels. That was the part when I began to ship them and they became my OTP a little bit later on.

**SO I GUESS THIS IS MY WAY OF RESPONDING TO YOUR REVIEWS. READ BELOW. **

When did you guys first start to ship sasusaku? What was your favorite "feels" moment with them? I can't decide between when Sasuke left and the forehead poke. Gosh, they both hit me hard in the feels! That bridge moment though... Sasuke you're such an idiot sometimes! Tell me in some reviews please, I'm curious.

P.S. I released a Gaara one shot yesterday if you guys want to go and check that out. Also, I plan on publishing some more stories soon, so I'll say when in my author's notes. One will be post 700 and slightly connected to the Boruto movie. Another will be a different version of sasusaku shortly after The Last. Neither will connect with this story.


	13. Departure

**Author's Note: **

**THIS CHAPTER GOES OUT TO ALL UPSET SASUSAKU FANS, INCLUDING MYSELF, THAT READ NARUTO GAIDEN! **

If anyone else read the first chapter of Naruto Gaiden, then you know why the ENTIRE sasusaku fandom is upset and furious. It infuriates me to see how everything happened after 700. I'm not going to go any further because of spoilers, but I want to give a message to everyone that's in the sasusaku fandom.

STAY STRONG! WE ARE CANON! I HEARD THAT IT GETS BETTER IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Thank for the reviews, favorites, and follows! They really encourage me in terms of my writing. Enjoy!

**IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER REGARDING UPDATES FOR THIS STORY! NO, IT IS NOT BAD! **

* * *

Sasuke adjusted the bands on his arms and pulled down his sleeves. Throwing on his cloak and grabbing his chokuto, he waited at the front door for Sakura, who was in the bathroom. Sighing, the Uchiha unsheathed his chokuto and looked at the end of it. He had spent a large amount of time in the last few days sharpening it along with his other weapons, making sure that they were in perfect condition.

Sakura opened the bathroom door and grabbed her black gloves. She watched as Sasuke continued to stare at his blade.

Lifting his right hand, he knew that his chokuto had been sharpened to the point where you could look at and cut yourself, but he felt the urge to make sure. Barely tapping the point, Sasuke quickly withdrew his finger as blood rushed from the small wound. The Uchiha put his blade back in its sheathe and opened the front door.

"Why did you do that?" Sakura asked as she closed the door. She tried to grab his hand, but he pulled it back.

"It's just a small cut," he said as he took keys out of his pocket and locked the door.

Sakura gasped. "How did you get my keys?"

Sasuke put them back in his pocket. "I took them before you woke up."

They made their way down the stairs with Sakura still bewildered. "Give them back."

"No. Why should I?"

"Maybe because it's my apartment."

"Well I wouldn't put it past you to go back up and unlock it just to spite me."

She glared at him as they continued to walk. "Keys. Now."

He shook his head and looked at his finger again. He was surprised at the amount of blood still coming from the small cut. The red liquid was now covering his hand and started to drip down his sleeve. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the worried look on Sakura's face. "Calm down. It's just a small cut."

"I don't even care about the keys anymore, just give me your hand." She tried to grab his hand once again with no luck. "Sasuke, please."

"No."

"Why did you even touch it if you knew that it was sharp enough?"

He shrugged. "Making sure."

She huffed. "And I thought Naruto was an idiot..."

The last few days had been used for preparations of course. They had decided that they would travel in one large group for the first day. Then, they would split up the next to start searching in certain areas. Sasuke, however, had made sure that they would be splitting in groups of at least two. He had said that it was because of the concern over their army, but the real reason was to make sure that he could watch out for Sakura, just in case.

"Just give me your hand already!" she screamed as she lunged once more.

Sasuke jumped over her with ease and let a giant smirk settle on his face as he landed. "It's not going to kill me."

"I don't care."

This time, he grabbed her arm with his left. "Sakura, seriously. Why do you care about a small cut so much?"

She motioned for him to come closer. He did as she wanted but gasped as she grabbed his ear. Before he could react, Sakura had already gotten his injured hand and healed it.

After she let his ear go, he rubbed it and frowned. "Hope you're satisfied now."

She grinned and walked faster.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and continued to travel at his own pace.

After their kiss at the arena, they hadn't talked about it since their walk home. For some reason, Sasuke had felt a little disappointed when she said that it didn't count. Although he had agreed in not counting it, there was something inside of him that shattered at that very moment. The way he felt around her these days, it was so foreign and weird to him. Maybe he was just allergic to something in her house or it might even be perfume. He decided that he would ask her what it was later.

"We're heading towards the area where Gaara thought some strange presence was, right?" Sakura asked, bringing the Uchiha out of his thoughts.

"Hn. I hate that we're stopping so early though. We could get there today."

"I didn't get it at first either, but now I think that I understand. The Hokage wants us all to get rest so that we are at our best tomorrow when we split up."

Sasuke caught up with her and spoke in a demanding tone. "Speaking of which, you're coming with me."

Sakura blushed lightly. "W-Why me?"

_"Crap! Why did I say it like that?!" _He scratched his head. "Kakashi already told me that he wanted us to go together."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise. "I thought that he said we could pick our own partners..."

Sasuke mentally sliced himself to pieces with his chokuto. "I don't know. That's what he told me," he lied.

They walked the rest of way to the village gates in silence. Sakura was wondering why Kakashi had supposedly already chosen her and Sasuke as a pairing for tomorrow.

_"Why me and Sasuke? Also, how come he's only paired us together and no one else?"_ She glanced at the Uchiha from the corner of her eye. _"Was he lying? Why would Sasuke lie about something like this though?" _She thought back to yesterday, the festival, and the hot springs._ "No! Why do I even bother to think like this?! He doesn't like me in that way and he never will! Get it through your head Haruno!"_

They were the first to arrive at the gates and they stood in the middle, staring at the ground.

Sakura frowned and once again questioned the "Hokage's" decision. "Are you sure that he said you and ME?"

Sasuke crossed his arms and glanced at her from the corner of his eye. "Yes, why?"

She shrugged and continued to stare at the ground. "It just seems a little weird is all."

The Uchiha fully turned his head to face hers, narrowing his eyes. "How is it weird?"

She opened her mouth, but before she could answer, they heard a shout from far down the road.

"The power of youth is in full force!" Lee screamed as he ran towards them, followed by a large cloud of dust. The taijutsu specialist skidded to a halt in front of the bewildered pair. He smiled and saluted. "Greetings Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno!"

The two ninja said their hellos and watched as Lee started doing push-ups in the middle of the road. The next few to arrive were the Sand Siblings and Shikamaru. They all chatted and Sasuke listened in on how Choji was doing.

Shikamaru shoved his hands into his pockets. "Even after he woke up and told us what happened, it was still hard for us to understand. He wasn't even sure either. I've been wondering and I think that I have some possible answers."

The Nara was interrupted by Naruto Uzumaki screaming furiously as he jogged down the road with a gigantic heavy pack. Hinata was close behind, telling her husband something inaudible. When he reached the group, the sweaty boy dropped the bag onto the ground and put his hands on his knees, panting. He raised his head and started to speak, but stopped when everyone else, except for the Hokage, joined the group.

"Where the heck is the Hokage?! Me and Akamaru are ready to get some action!" Kiba exclaimed excitedly as he patted his companion's head.

They waited for who knows how long, getting agitated with every passing minute. Sasuke glanced upward and noticed that the sun had fully risen. That told him that it had been at least an hour that all of them had waited for the Hokage. Before long, the most impatient people in the group started growling and huffing out of annoyance. So on they went, waiting and waiting. By now, everybody had sat down, some even taking short naps. Sasuke was sitting against the edge of the gate and had his head on one of his propped up arms. He started cursing himself and Kakashi as his eyelids started to droop, but he quickly opened them again as Sakura passed out with her head resting on his shoulder. He glanced at her and smirked at her unconscious form. After looking around to make sure that no one else was watching, he moved their positions so that his arm was around her, holding her closer. At this point, the Uchiha didn't even care if any of the others teased him for it because, like him, they had all grown tired of waiting and were too irritated for any fun.

* * *

Kurushimi was sitting in the chakra chair, right in the middle of the dark room. Today was the limit and he wondered if the Uchiha would actually come. However, he quickly cursed himself for the stupid thought. _"What am I thinking? Of course he's coming. The boy is not stupid..."_

Kenshi burst into the room with an excited look on his face. "Today is the limit and you haven't said that they're coming! I guess that means I can go and tell the others to get ready."

As Kenshi began to run out of the room, a loud sigh from his friend stopped him in mid step. "What?!" he asked.

The man with strange eyes gave his friend a glare from the corner of his eye. "Kenshi, you really can be quite the imbecile at times..."

The swordsman turned around slowly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Another sigh. "Is today over?"

"No."

"Then I'm not sending any of you out yet. Besides," he leaned back in his chair, "they are definitely coming."

The other male crossed his arms. "How would you know?! You didn't even send anyone out to make sure that he's coming!"

Kurushimi stood up and made his way to Kenshi with the chakra chair disappearing slowly. Stopping a few feet away from his friend, Kurushimi gave him the deadliest glare that he could possibly give. "Kenshi, do you have ANY common sense?"

The other man returned the deadly glare. He didn't reply.

As the multicolored eyes bore into brown, Kurushimi laughed mockingly. "Since you're obviously not using your head, I'll explain for you. And by the way, I've sent some people out to certain areas."

He led Kenshi outside the room and all the way to where the training area was. The most elite ninja were training at the time and most were locked in intense sparring sessions. The weaker ones were watching the battles and cheering.

"What do you see Kenshi?"

"An army."

"Exactly. Now do you understand?"

His answer was an eye roll.

"They are not stupid. Us having an army is more than enough to make them come without a second thought."

"Why couldn't we have just gone after them? We could've surprised them at the festival if all of us had gone with you."

He threw his hands up. "Where is the fun in that?! It wouldn't be any fun at all if we had just killed them all there. Besides, if we did that, then innocent people would've had to die. The innocent people who think the same as we do. That Sasuke is a criminal."

Kenshi narrowed his eyes. "So what you're saying is that we couldn't have gone there and ONLY killed Sasuke?"

Kurushimi slapped his friend's back and made him face the army again. "I'm saying that he needs to suffer as much as we did. Or did you forget how much we suffered? How much we suffered because of the Uchiha."

The brown eyed man angrily pushed the other male's hand off of his shoulder. "How many times do I have to tell you that I will never forget?!" He breathed deeply and calmed himself. "What's our plan looking like right now?"

Kurushimi seemed to have cooled off too. "Hm... They don't know where our hideout is located, so I assume that they will split into small pairs to search. That's when we act."

"When are we starting then?"

"At first, they're definitely going to travel as a group. I came to that conclusion because they know that we are a serious threat and they want to make sure that I truly want them to find our hideout. That being said, the purpose of not splitting right off is to see that I am going to give them time to find me. That I'm going to be true to my word."

For the next minute, they watched the elites in their army train. Then, Kurushimi started laughing hysterically. When he finally stopped, he turned to face Kenshi with an evil grin plastered on his face. "I never said that we wouldn't act during the time that they will try and find us though..."

* * *

After another hour, Sakura woke up and blushed as she noticed what Sasuke was doing. Sasuke only smirked and stared at her with his tired eyes.

Sakura sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Is he still not here yet?!"

They waited EVEN MORE! All of the aggravated shinobi were awake and moving at this point in time, trying to occupy their attention.

Suddenly, a poof of smoke appeared right outside of the gate. Everyone turned and watched as the smoke cleared, revealing the Hokage putting a book into his back pocket.

Kakashi laughed nervously when he saw the angry ninja glaring at him. "Sorry I was late. I got lost on the path of life."

The original Team 7 immediately growled at the original line that they new so well from their sensei. It wasn't just them; the entire group started to yell, scream, shout, and curse at the current Hokage.

Kakashi started to sweat and speak shakily. "I just had to tell Lady Tsunade some things before we left. She's going to take over my role as Hokage while I'm gone."

"YOU HAD TO TELL HER STUFF FOR THAT LONG?!" Naruto shouted as he shook his fists.

Before the cornered Hokage could respond, Gaara tried to calm everyone, including himself, down. "We should be moving now, instead of arguing. Don't all of you agree?"

Reluctantly, everybody nodded and grabbed their things. Naruto struggled with his pack and stumbled outside the gate.

"What's in there? Your entire house?" Shino asked.

The Uzumaki frowned. "No, and it's none of your business."

"Let's get moving!" Tenten eagerly shouted.

Everyone put their forehead protectors on. Sasuke always found it funny how none of the girls wore theirs the correct way. Even Tenten had grown to wear it the incorrect way. Speaking of which, a few of the guys still wore theirs incorrectly. In the end, Sasuke was the only one without a forehead protector, which he had stored in his bag.

As the large group of shinobi got ready to start jumping from tree to tree, Kakashi quickly stopped them.

"We won't be going at that kind of pace."

Everyone turned to look at the Hokage in disbelief. Before they could begin to contradict his statement, the Hatake explained.

"We've already discussed where we're going to stop today. We can get there by sundown if we walk."

Some shrugged and began to walk. Sasuke, on the other hand, stomped over to his former sensei and whispered angrily. "What are you thinking?! Why are we walking and stopping so early today?!"

They were the last to begin the journey, following at a short distance behind the others.

"Sasuke, if we're up against an army then we'll need all the strength we can get. Meaning, we can rest at our destination for today and go at it full force when we split tomorrow. By doing this, we will be completely aware when we search for the hideout. Besides, if they know that we're going to split up, then they'll most likely take the opportunity to strike."

The Uchiha didn't say anything.

"Do you trust my decision Sasuke?"

He raised his head. "Hn."

When he began to walk at a faster pace, Kakashi quickly grabbed Sasuke's shoulder to hold him back.

"What now Kakashi?!"

The grey haired man chuckled. "Sorry to keep you back here, but I'm just curious."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"What was all that stuff at the arena about?"

In return, Sasuke gasped and turned a light shade of red.

Kakashi took the book back out of his pocket. "And don't tell me that it was nothing."

"It's none of your business!" Sasuke angrily whispered.

"You know, the others think that something is happening between you two. I just want to know if they're right or not."

"Well the others are wrong. Nothing's happening and that kiss didn't mean anything."

With this, Sasuke sped up and made his way to the very end of the group.

Kakashi eyed him suspiciously._ "Hmm... I can't tell if he's lying or not. Although, whenever anyone brings up the subject of him and Sakura being an 'item', his temper gets worse than usual." _

His eyes scanned the entire crowd of younger ninja. _"Gosh, I'm old. It feels like just yesterday I saw them as children and teens and now they're all adults." _

Then, his gaze drifted over the couples._ "Now a few of them are even married. I never imagined that some of them would even bother to be in a relationship."_

His eyes settled on Sasuke and Sakura, who were walking side by side. Kakashi smiled under his mask._ "Just imagine if those two actually are a thing. I wish I could go back to those days when they were genin and my students. My students... The next Legendary Sannin."_

He stared at the Uchiha crest on the back of Sasuke's cloak. Kakashi wondered what it must feel like for Sasuke to be trapped in this position. The villagers back home could care less if he were to die on this mission. All they cared about was if they could be safe, and Sasuke was fighting not just for himself, but for those villagers. His eyes narrowed in sorrow. _"How do you do it Sasuke? What keeps you going? Why are you fighting for people that hate you?"_

His thoughts drifted back to their confrontation on the road leading out of the village a few days ago. The last Uchiha had been surprised and confused as to why that many people had demanded to come. The most interesting part had been when they had told him that they were his friends. The look of sadness and bewilderment on the Uchiha's face saddened Kakashi even more. _"I know that you feel like you shouldn't have anyone on your side, but... You still fight for the villagers. You fight for your comrades and your friends..."_

Kakashi widened his eyes as he saw Sakura grin and playfully shove Sasuke. Words he had heard a long time ago came back to Kakashi.

_"The Uchiha clan treasured love more than any other clan."_

He gasped quietly as he saw Sasuke give a very small, hardly visible smile.

_"I don't know if it's that way or not between you two, but there's one thing that I know for sure now."_

Kakashi smiled under his mask again as he saw Sasuke and Sakura joke around with each other once more.

_"It's that... Sasuke... You fight for love..."_

* * *

"The girls will share one room and so will all the guys," Kankuro announced sadly as he came back into the lobby.

The men immediately started protesting while the girls made their way up to their room. After the males had settled down, Gaara was the one who grabbed their room key and led them up the stairs.

Meanwhile, the females had already settled down in their room. Kakashi had made sure to get the rooms with tons of bunks in them and the girls each had one to themselves.

"Oh my gosh Sakura!" Ino squealed as she made her way to Sakura's bunk.

"What?"

"Tell me all about it!"

"All about what?"

Ino stomped her foot, which made the other women turn their attention to the other kunoichi. "The kiss! Is he good at it?!"

"So help me Pig! I will knock you out!"

"I'm just curious. This is something that I have to know."

Sakura sighed, deciding that giving her friend what she wanted would make her shut up and go away. "Yes, it was good. There's still nothing happening between us though."

The Yamanaka nearly pulled a large clump of hair out. The other women were still as shocked as Ino was in finding out that Sasuke and Sakura were still denying it.

"Forehead, what is wrong with you two?! You kiss each other and you're still claiming that it's nothing!"

"Because I know that it doesn't mean anything. And calm down. I think that everyone back in the village can hear you."

Before Ino could spit back another accusation, Tenten covered the Yamanaka's mouth and spoke. "Let's change the subject before Ino murders someone."

Hinata quickly helped. "Have we decided which location will be the most likely place for Kurushimi's and Kenshi's hideout?"

Temari sat up. "Gaara has already said that him and Kankuro are going to search the place that we traveled by when we came for the festival. He explained that he felt some sort of evil presence there when we came through the area."

As the women's conversation continued, the guys were arguing over who got the beds and who got the floor. Sasuke had already claimed his spot on the floor. Before fist fights could start, Kakashi, Gaara, Shikamaru, and Shino got on the floor, too. That left Naruto, Lee, Sai, Kankuro, and Kiba to get the beds.

Kiba snickered quietly as he opened the window for Akamaru to jump in. The lady at the front desk had said that they didn't allow dogs, but the Inuzuka could obviously care less.

The boys then argued about who would get to shower first, and Sasuke had had enough.

* * *

Sakura sat down in a booth as she waited for her drink. Looking around, she saw that there were only two other people in the room. She had left the girl's room before Ino could begin to pester her again. Now, she was in the small cafeteria on the bottom floor of the hotel.

One of the people in the room was a handsome young man that looked to be about her age. When they met each other's gaze, he smiled and winked. Sakura blushed lightly and looked away. When she looked around again, she noticed that the other person in the room was wearing a dark cloak with the hood up. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion, but quickly turned again as someone else sat across from her.

Sasuke sighed and crossed his arms. It didn't take him long to turn his frown into a smirk. "You didn't order anything that can make you drunk did you?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and made her expression match his. "No. Did you?"

He shook his head.

The waiter brought their drinks to them and they began to chat. Sasuke leaned over the table and whispered quietly. "Has Kakashi told you where we go when we split up tomorrow?"

They twisted their heads when they heard a small shuffling sound. Nothing had moved. The other men in the room were casually doing their business. Sakura faced Sasuke once again and shook her head. They didn't say anything else as they quietly sipped their drinks.

"Excuse me."

Sasuke and Sakura turned to see the man without the hood approaching their booth. Sasuke scowled as the man stopped in front of of Sakura._ "What does this guy want?"_

"Miss, if you don't mind, I'd like to pay for your drink."

Sakura was too shocked to reply and stuttered. "U-Um.. I can pay for it myself."

"I insist." He reached out to touch Sakura's shoulder, but withdrew his hand as Sasuke "sneezed" and a small fireball flew past, stopping before it could hit the other wall.

They turned to look at the Uchiha, who was rubbing his nose. "Sorry about that. I think I must be coming down with a cold or something."

Sakura slowly turned back to the man as he continued.

"Anyway," he said as he reached out to touch her again. This time, he pulled away as a shuriken barely missed his hand, planting itself in the opposite wall. Once again, they stared at the Uchiha, who had his eyes closed and was sipping his drink. He set it down and noticed their stares. "What?"

Sakura kept her eyes on Sasuke as the man continued once again. Sasuke had one hand under the table and started to sip his drink again. As he picked it back up and sipped, he used the other hand to create a small shard made of black flames. The moment Sakura blinked, Sasuke used the short instant to fling the shard through the man's leg. The man cried out as Sasuke extinguished the flaming shard.

Sakura turned her head as the injured man fell to the ground. Sasuke pretended like he cared. One of the waiters came over to help and the hooded man walked out of the room and the hotel itself.

After the chaotic situation had ended with the man being taken to the hotel's hospital, Sakura began to question Sasuke as they walked back to their rooms.

"What was that?"

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye and his expression was indifferent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh really?"

"Yes really. What are you trying to say?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Never mind."

* * *

The hooded man chuckled as he hopped from tree to tree at a fast pace. "So they're splitting up tomorrow, huh?"

He chuckled again. "They were too busy with that other guy to notice me. I got out of there easily."

This time, it was a hysterical laugh. "Just wait until Lord Kurushimi hears about this..."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I hope that you enjoyed this chapter and that it cheered some of us up about Naruto Gaiden! You know you love a jealous Sasuke. Thanks for reading!

**IMPORTANT! READ BELOW!**

So one of those other stories I was talking about in my second author's note of last chapter will most likely be published very soon. If you are interested, there is a short description below of what it's about.

It will be post 700. It slightly follows the Boruto movie in meaning that the kids are most likely around the age of thirteen and that Sasuke is training Bolt. Sarada and Boruto are the main characters and they've just been made genin. It'll follow their struggles with their families, mainly their fathers. Their struggles with training will also play a part.

However, Forgiveness is still my main priority, so the updates for that story will come slower than the ones for this one. I should keep my regular updating schedule for this story.

Also, I haven't started on my other sasusaku story that I talked about in that note. I don't know when I'll be starting that, but I'll keep updating you on that kind of thing in my author's notes.


	14. Split Up!

**Author's Note: **Ugh! I haven't finished the next chapter yet because I've gotten some bad writer's block. Although, I came up with an idea yesterday, so I might be back on track. Anyway, thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Enjoy!

* * *

It was almost two in the morning. The only light in the dark room came from the crystals scattered in all areas. This room in the hideout was Kurushimi's main control room where he usually thought about his plans. It was quite large and he also used it as a living space.

"So it looks like my prediction was true..."

The spy had just left the room after he had told Kurushimi and Kenshi the news.

Kenshi sighed and crossed his arms. "Okay, so it's for sure that they'll be seperating later today. One thing that we still don't know for sure though, are they splitting into groups?"

The dark haired male propped his head up on his hands in a thinking position. "I still believe that my theory about them going in small pairs is most likely correct." He stood up and chuckled. "I think we both know who Sasuke will be going with."

Kenshi's expression was still indifferent and his arms remained crossed. With his tired, half closed eyes, the man breathed a sigh for the second time. "This is gonna be too much work for me. Why don't you get your lazy butt up and do some of the fighting for once? You haven't done anything since our last fight with Sasuke. I'm not counting the festival."

A huff. "Because it is not time for me to do my part in the plan. Why don't you shut up and do your part? I already said that you could have first shot at the Haruno."

The swordsman chuckled. "You're right. I should have some fun soon."

"Do you remember what I said about some, other things, that I might decide to do?"

The messy haired man raised his eyebrows and his jaw dropped slightly. "What the heck is wrong with you?! Kurushimi, you just said that I'd have first shot!"

"Technically, you will. It's just in a different way. Look at the bright side of things. If I do this, then that means you'll get more than one fight."

What Kenshi said next made Kurushimi shocked and furious. His friend had a sad frown on his face, staring at the ground.

"I always like a good fight, but... killing them?"

The other male stomped to the front of the man and slapped him with full force. "Why do you keeping going on about how they're 'innocent'?! You know for a fact that they're not!"

The blonde male used every ounce of resistance left in him to not pull out his katana and slice his friend to pieces. As he rubbed the side of his face, he spoke. "You say that we'll only kill the ones that aren't innocent. What about the ones that are coming with Sasuke? They haven't done anything. Now that I think about it, neither has Sasuke."

After an intense stare down, Kurushimi slowly and calmly walked back into the big part of the room. Unexpectedly, he swiped everything off of the large table and flipped it over. Panting angrily, he turned his gaze towards Kenshi once again, pointing accusingly. His multicolored eyes began to glow and the one being accused took a step backwards.

"Do I need to show you your own past again Kenshi!? Do I need to make you relive _their_ screams and crys?! _Her_ screams and crys?!"

The stunned swords master clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in fury. Once again, he restrained himself from murdering the man in front of him. "Shut up! I never need to see all that again to remember it!"

"Then if you can 'remember' everything, then why don't you ever use your head?! It was the fault of the Uchiha and you know it!" Kurushimi lowered his voice as he continued. "How can you say that Sasuke Uchiha is not evil? All the Uchiha are and we have to eliminate the last of them. Besides, wouldn't _they_ want revenge?"

"Never speak for _them_ ever again," Kenshi snarled as he stormed off to his own room.

Kurushimi was still in utter disbelief at the man's words. It wasn't like Kenshi to be "afraid" of killing someone.

Slamming the door and running his hands through his hair, Kenshi sat down on the edge of his bed. Was his friend right? Did _they_ want revenge? He could hear the screams enter his ears once again. He saw those wicked red eyes, heard the man's evil laugh. Biting his lip and covering his ears along with squeezing his eyes shut tightly didn't help.

Finally, Kenshi had enough. Kurushimi was right, the Uchiha only brought pain and suffering to the world and they needed to make them extinct. Screaming and grabbing a kunai, he chucked it into the wall, burying it up to the handle.

He angrily whispered through gritted teeth. "I'll kill you and your friends Sasuke Uchiha! But first, I'll make all of you suffer! Even if it's the last thing I do! You and your friends will pay for the sins of the past. They'll pay for YOUR sins!"

* * *

Everyone yawned as they headed outside the hotel. It was six in the morning and no one had gotten good rest, much to the Hokage's dismay. Speaking of Kakashi, he looked to be the most tired and upset of all, knowing that his plan to get sleep had failed.

"Okay everyone," the masked man began, "go ahead and pair up."

Looking like zombies, they stumbled toward another person. Sasuke and Sakura were the first to pair up and surprisingly, she looked even more tired than him. He noticed her eyes beginning to close and she also began to sway. Catching her with one arm before she fell, he smirked as her eyes shot back open. "You sure you're up for this?"

She shrugged him off. "More than you."

Making sure no one else was looking, Sasuke threw his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close, making her blush and attempt to get out of his hold.

"What's wrong?" he whispered mockingly. "I thought you would like me holding you like this."

As Sakura began to quietly curse at him, everyone had found a partner. The pairings were as follows: Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto and Hinata, Shikamaru and Temari, Sai and Ino, Lee and Tenten, Shino and Kiba, and Gaara, Kankuro, and Kakashi.

The Hokage broke the silence. "I'll go with Gaara and Kankuro to check out the most likely area." He took a map out of his pocket. "I will show you where your areas are."

After that had been done, he further instructed. "We each will have four days to search our areas and four days to get back," he pointed to a certain place on the map, "to this spot. Oh, and one more thing. No searching from the sky."

Everyone nodded and wished the others good luck. Kakashi gave the signal, and they were off.

Sasuke and Sakura hopped in the trees, deciding to take their time searching at areas further away. The dark blue headband revealed Sasuke's Rinnegan and Sharingan, which he had chosen to leave activated from this point on. They searched their area for hours. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

After noon, they decided that now was the point where they should take their time, so they started traveling on the ground at a slow pace.

"Do you think that we'll find anything?" Sakura asked.

"I think that Gaara, Kankuro, and Kakashi have the highest chance of finding the hideout."

"I hope that everyone else is okay. If anyone gets attacked, that could be a good sign though. It may mean that they're the ones closest to finding the hideout."

"Hn, true."

For the next few minutes, they walked in silence. Sakura was listening for any noise that was out of the ordinary while Sasuke was looking around for any chakra signatures. This was the one time that the both of them could stand the annoying silence between them.

Throughout the first day of searching, none of the groups had found anything strange or suspicious. All of them had camped out in places that were well hidden from view. Each person had eventually taken a turn to watch while the others slept, making sure that the enemy would not try a surprise attack.

* * *

It was the second day of the search.

Kakashi, Gaara, and Kankuro were running at full speed towards their destination. They had concluded that they should go straight for the area Gaara thought was out of the ordinary, not bothering to spend much time on the environment around them. That could wait until later after they checked their biggest lead.

"At this rate," Kankuro began, "we should be there by the end of the day."

Gaara and Kakashi nodded in agreement.

After they went on for a few more hours, Kakashi started to feel like something around them wasn't normal. It was almost as if someone was watching them.

"Keep your guard up," he warned the others.

Now, the sun was setting and the distance between them and their destination grew shorter with every minute.

"We should take a short break," Gaara announced breathlessly.

The others willingly agreed. After all, they'd been going at this pace for many hours without one stop.

As Kakashi surveyed his surroundings, he thought that he'd seen something out of the corner of his eye. He cautiously stared at the spot for a few seconds, eyes narrowed. When the group had gotten ready to begin again, all widened their eyes.

Kakashi turned and threw three kunai just in time to block the three paper bombs attached to the enemy kunai thrown at them. Gaara shielded himself and Kankuro from a hail storm of shuriken. They heard a hysterical laugh and turned to see someone they knew only from stories.

"Well if it isn't the lazy Hokage who lost his Sharingan, the try hard Kazekage, and his older brother who loves to play with puppets."

The three narrowed their eyes, cautiously keeping aware of the other attackers that had surrounded them.

"I assume that you've heard of me from your friend."

They moved closer as the mass of rogues slowly made their way to them. The man that was not in sight continued.

"Hahaha. Oh this is gonna be fun. Prepare to suffer and die!"

* * *

_"Sakura, who did this to you?" Sasuke asked. "Who was it?!"_

_She could only stare up at the boy in horror. The boy had just seemingly risen from the dead. The purple surrounding him had subsided momentarily, revealing half of the Uchiha's face and body covered in black marks._

_"Sasuke, are you okay? What's happening?" she nervously asked._

_He looked down at himself, power flowing through him._

_A few flashes of his words from the memory came back to him._

_"Curse mark is a gift... I'm an avenger... Never felt this powerful before!"_

_It shifted for a short instant to show Sasuke being bitten by Orochimaru and receiving the curse mark._

_"Who did this to you?!" he repeated._

_Sakura did not reply. A small chuckle came from one of the three Sound ninja._

_"That would be me," Zaku said with an evil grin._

_Sasuke's eyes widened and he slowly turned to face the boy from the Sound, his Sharingan blazing. He was a ticking time bomb ready to go off at any moment. _

_Shikamaru commanded his teammates to get out of the way. Choji ran over to him while Ino released her Mind Transfer. The girl from the Sound, Kin, fell to the ground, unconscious. Now, only Dosu and Zaku remained against the Uchiha. The black marks covering Sasuke glowed a fierce red and more appeared, now covering his entire body._

_Zaku and Dosu argued for a few seconds while Sasuke stood in between them and Sakura and Naruto. The Uzumaki was still out cold from his last fight._

_Zaku used a sound technique that came from the tubes in his hands. He smiled in pleasure as he finished and saw that Team 7 was gone._

_"What do ya know? Blew em all away," Zaku said. His expression turned to one of terror as he heard a voice behind him._

_"Not quite," Sasuke stated as he effortlessly elbowed Zaku in the back of the head. The Sound ninja went flying, landing at Dosu's feet. Sasuke had been so fast that he'd gotten Naruto and Sakura out of range from Zaku's attack._

_A few more attacks later and Sasuke had Zaku down on his knees, holding both arms straight out behind his back and pressing his foot into the horrified boy's spine._

_Sasuke smirked in delight and widened his eyes as if he had gone completely crazy. He dug his foot into the boy's spine, adding more and more pressure every second._

_"You seem to be very proud of these arms of yours," Sasuke began, "you must be very attached to them."_

_"No! What are you doing?!" Zaku shouted desperately._

_Sasuke smiled sadistically as gruesome cracks came from the boy's arms. He screamed out in agony and the Uchiha finally let him go. Zaku writhed on the ground in pain, both his arms were most likely broken._

_Dosu breathed heavily in terror as Sasuke turned around with that sadistic smile still set firmly on his face. "It looks like you're the only one left. I hope you make things more interesting than your friend." With this, the cursed boy made his way to Dosu, who was too scared to move._

_Sakura couldn't watch anymore. This wasn't the Sasuke that she knew. "No! Stop!"_

_Sasuke gasped and halted his movement as Sakura wrapped her arms around him. He turned to look at her with the Sharingan still active. The tears streaming down her face made him freeze in place._

_"Please. Don't do it," she pleaded with him. _

_After many moments of silence, the black marks faded and Sasuke stopped his rampage._

_A shift._

_"I will take everyone that you still care about away from you!" Kurushimi shouted._

* * *

Sasuke's eyes flew open and he sat up in an instant. Quickly turning to where Sakura slept at the other end of the small cave, he breathed a sigh of relief when he confirmed that she was still there, alive and unharmed. Wiping the sweat from his face, he remembered what had happened in the events prior to him falling asleep.

The second day of their search had gone just as the first had, nothing unusual to find. After arguing for ten minutes straight, Sakura had finally surrendered when she agreed to sleep in the cave. He smirked when he reminisced over her threats to kick him out of her apartment when they got back home. Knowing that she wouldn't go through with it, he had rolled his eyes and said an indifferent "okay" before settling down inside.

Frowning and glancing at the cave's tiny entrance, he glanced outside to see that it was probably around midnight.

He stared at Sakura's sleeping form as he reached up to let his hand rest on his neck, right where the curse mark had been. Closing his eyes, Sasuke remembered how much trouble the mark had been. Everyone who knew about it tried to help him, but it always ended up backfiring on them. Even when Kakashi sealed it, it proved later on to have no effect.

Sighing, he stood up and made his way to the cave entrance, careful not to wake Sakura. He sat with his side leaning against the wall on his left, enjoying the cool breeze that came through. They'd also decided that no one should have to be on watch for that night because of the safety of the cave. However, Sasuke wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon, so he made himself guard their location.

For hours, the last Sharingan user stared at the moon through the clear night sky, wondering if all of this was worth it. Kakashi was probably right in saying that Kurushimi would capitalize on this opportunity to strike when they had split up. That is, if he knew. Although, how could he possibly know that they had separated into groups? In the end, Sasuke knew that what they were doing now was definitely worth it. If he could save everyone else's lives, then everything that happens on this mission would pay off. A new thought came to him. He glanced back at Sakura.

_"I promise that I won't let you die. Even at the cost of my own life..."_

After another hour, he began to nod off. Words could not express how exhausted he was because of his lack of sleep. As he tried to hold his eyes open and his head up, he became unaware of Sakura moving to sit beside him. She watched with a tiny smirk as his head tipped over and over along with eyes closing and opening repeatedly.

"If you're so tired then why aren't you sleeping?" she asked.

The startled Uchiha jumped at the surprising interruption, now feeling angry instead of tired. "I can't sleep."

"Oh please! You were about to pass out right there a few seconds ago."

"So?"

"So, I want to know why you're lying to me."

He swallowed and crossed his arms. Sasuke didn't want to tell her about his nightmares. It was too embarrassing to even think about.

After a long silence, he noticed her sorrowful expression and narrowed his eyes out of curiosity. Before long, she answered his look.

"Do you ever dream about them? I mean, your parents and Itachi?"

His expression changed back to the classic stoic one as his eyes settled back on the moon. "Hn... All the time."

There was silence once more. This was something that he'd wanted to know ever since their trip to the cemetery. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know... It's just hard to talk about I guess... But, enough about my sad stories..."

After that, she began to stare at him. Sasuke repeatedly glanced at her to notice that she had her eyes locked on him.

"What?" he asked, clearly annoyed.

She grinned. "I just remembered how much I miss your duck butt hair and," she reached up to pinch his cheek, "all that baby fat you used to have."

He slapped her hand away and frowned. "My hair didn't look like a duck butt."

Her grin became wider as she stroked his hair with one hand, which he didn't protest to. "I like the bangs though, Duckbutt."

"What are you so happy about Forehead?" he asked. He'd only heard Ino call Sakura that and just said it because it was the first thing that came to mind. However, he knew that he'd screwed up when she gasped out of shock and withdrew her hand, turning away from him.

"Don't call me that," she whispered.

He quickly apologized, hating to see her so upset. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

She turned her head to face the front, tilted so that she was looking up at the moon. "I know, but... I hated it when people used to call me that. I hate my forehead so much."

Sasuke vaguely remembered people teasing Sakura when they were small children. They usually called her "Billboard Brow", but Ino called her "Forehead". The Uchiha mentally facepalmed as he thought.

"I don't see why."

"My forehead does look like a billboard. That's why I grew some bangs, to hide it."

Sasuke didn't know how to put this in words without sounding weird. Scratching his head, he stuttered as he replied. "Y-You look uh, n-nice, to me either way."

She blushed as she turned to face him again. "R-Really?"

He nodded without looking her in the eye. "And that purple mark, it looks uh, cool."

Sakura didn't know what to say. Sasuke Uchiha had just, or attempted, to compliment her. So there they sat, the awkward silence returning. Sasuke had noticed that she became more tense like she had been when she talked about her parents.

"What's wrong? Don't tell me that it's nothing."

She sighed. "It's stupid."

She began to crawl her way back into the cave, but Sasuke quickly blocked her and nudged her back out.

"I'm not letting you go back in until you tell me."

He let go when she stopped moving. She sighed once again. "It's just, I feel like it's my fault. I'm the reason that they're dead."

His eyes softened, finally realizing what had been bothering her. "It isn't."

"You weren't there."

"I didn't need to be. From what Naruto told me, I don't think that it's your fault."

"You're just saying that."

"Because I know that I'm right."

After she had finished explaining what was bothering her, she started to head back into the cave again. Sasuke stopped her immediately, making her irritated.

"What now?!"

"There's more that you're not telling me. It's worse than the thing about your parents, isn't it?"

She began to stare at the ground. "How are you able to figure me out so easily?"

He smirked and mocked her words from a few days ago. "You can be easy to predict sometimes."

She gave a small smile before turning it back into a frown. "Why were we assigned as partners?"

He was confused. Nonetheless, he still didn't plan on telling her that he'd lied when he said that Kakashi had assigned them as partners.

"Sasuke, you and Naruto could destroy the enemy in an instant if you came across them. So why was I paired with you?"

Out of shock, his mouth widened slightly. He still didn't get it.

"I'm nothing compared to both of you. Both of you are so powerful and here I am. Tch, if anything, I'm just here to sit on the sidelines."

A mental slap to himself. "Why are you saying that?"

She threw her hands up. "Because I'm supposed to be part of the 'New' Legendary Sannin. That's a really good joke if you ask me. I'm nothing compared to you and Naruto," she repeated.

"That isn't true."

"You know that it is. I'm weak."

"Shut up!"

She jumped at his sudden outburst. He grabbed her shoulders tightly and looked her in the eye while continuing with a commanding voice.

"You may not have powers like us, but you're strong in your own way. No, it may not be near as powerful as a Susanoo or a Tailed Beast's chakra, but you can do things that me and him will never learn. I never want to hear you say that you're weak again!"

Sasuke forced himself to calm down and let go of her. She stayed in the same spot, watching him cautiously. Suddenly, he grabbed her once again, remembering something that he'd heard Tsunade mention.

"Promise me that you won't use that," he pointed to the purple mark, "unless absolutely necessary."

When he was outside of the hospital one day, Sasuke had heard the fifth Hokage having a conversation with Sakura. He'd become infuriated when he learned that the jutsu shortened the user's life span. However, he'd forgotten to ask her about it in the days after.

"But-"

"Promise me!"

"Why-"

"Because I can't lose you!"

Her bewilderment was nothing compared to his. The words had left his mouth without him getting a chance to stop them. But, it was the truth.

"Sasuke?"

"I can't lose you again..."

Finally, she nodded to comply with his request. He slowly let go of her and switched his sitting position so that his back was to her. They didn't move and the only sounds came from the small wind gusts.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he turned back again. They both faced the moon and she gave him a short glance which turned into a full on stare. He looked...

"Sakura, I'm afraid."

A short gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it. Sasuke Uchiha, was AFRAID?!

"I'm afraid because..." There were a few things that he was afraid of, but this was his biggest fear. "I'm afraid of losing you."

Sakura could not believe what she had just heard. First he said that he COULDN'T lose her. Now he was saying that he was AFRAID to lose her.

Sasuke wondered why he had just told her that. Something about her always made his resistance crumble and his thoughts scrambled. That was one power that she could hold over him anytime she wanted without knowing it.

"Why me?"

He didn't reply, still in disbelief at what had come out of his own mouth. It was the absolute truth though. If he ever lost her, then he didn't even know what he'd do. All that he did know was that he'd show no mercy on the ones that took her away from him.

Sasuke shook his head. "You're the one that I trust the most."

Sakura had seemingly gotten over her shock, but in truth, she was still perplexed. "I trust you the most Sasuke..."

Both of them were astonished at how fast their conversations could turn from friendly, to fueled with anger, to joking, to sorrow, and so on.

Sasuke clenched his fists as he stood up and towered over her. "Why?! I tried to kill you and you still trust me?! No, all of you do! Why?!"

"No matter what I say, you're not going to accept it. What do you want me to say?"

"That you hate me. That you never want to see me again. That I should crawl into a corner and die."

She stood up and held both of his arms. "What's wrong with you? Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

"Because that's what I deserve." He shook her hands off of his arms. "I never should have come back to the village."

Sakura was extremely frustrated at this point. "Then why did you come back?!"

He rubbed his eyes and scratched his head. "I don't know... I just... Don't want to be alone any more..."

Her voice was hardly a whisper now. "You say that but you still try and push all of us away."

When he didn't reply, she continued.

"After losing my parents, I know what it must have felt like for you and Naruto all those years. That and... When you and Naruto fought each other last time. He told me about that prophecy thing later on. That when you fought then you'd both die. It was after the war and at first, I was mad. Then, I realized that it was because I didn't want to lose both of you. I didn't want to be alone. I never wanted to know that feeling, but then you left again and my parents died. Naruto got married and I don't get to be around him or Hinata very often anymore. Everybody else is always on missions or dates and that kind of thing. I've been so busy with work and locked in my office or apartment all the time. I guess I just got used to being alone after all of that, but... Then you came back and it was like... I don't know how to say it."

He stared at the moon with sorrow in his eyes. "You still feel the same, don't you?"

Very slowly, she nodded and looked away.

Sasuke was on the verge of having another outburst, but he kept his cool this time. "Why? You could've had Naruto. Heck, you could have pretty much any of the single guys in the village now. Why do you love someone like me? I-I almost killed you. All I did was bring you pain and that's still all that I can do now."

"That's not true. And, I don't want anyone else. I don't feel the same way about them like I do you. Sasuke, I don't care if you ever feel the same way I do, but that's never going to stop me from loving you."

He wasn't shocked, more depressed. She had basically just confessed to him again, but he didn't know how to respond to it. "You deserve better."

"I don't care what you think I deserve. It won't change anything."

Both of them wanted to get off of this subject immediately. It felt really awkward to be talking about how they felt towards one another. Sasuke was just glad that they had avoided getting to how he felt. He still didn't really know about his feelings towards Sakura, but he didn't think that he felt "that way". Glancing at her once, he noticed something not very surprising.

"You haven't taken it off?" he asked, referring to the necklace he'd given her.

She shook her head and the silence returned. She chuckled. "What's wrong with us? One minute we're fighting and the next were casually chatting."

"Hn..." He walked so that he stood directly in front of her. "Can you promise me something else?"

She narrowed her eyes in curiosity.

"Promise me that you won't do something stupid on this mission."

She smiled. "I think you're the one who needs to make that promise to me."

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, but words don't mean anything."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What, are we gonna pinky promise?"

He shrugged. "That's all I can think of."

"I don't get it."

It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Tch. I can't get it through my head that you actually TRY to be funny. I would really love to know what happened to make you like this."

"It's only when I'm around you."

She blushed a furious red. "Really?"

He smirked and nodded. "Hn. Did you poison me or put me under some kind of jutsu? I don't even know why I'm acting like this."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You know that I wouldn't do that. I kind of like the new Sasuke anyway."

"You didn't like the old me?" he asked sarcastically.

"Stop teasing me. I hate how you do this on purpose."

"Fine. I guess that I can stop for a minute. By the way, don't tell anyone else that I act like this around you, especially Naruto. They'll take me for a weak fool."

"So showing some human emotion is weak to you?"

"Very." He held out his right pinky. They entwined them in another few seconds. Sasuke sighed. "I promise that I won't do anything stupid."

"I promise that I won't do anything stupid," Sakura repeated.

They were about to break away, but stopped when their eyes met. Sasuke couldn't breathe and wanted to stay like this. Sakura didn't know what to think of it. She was waiting for him to let go, but was caught by surprise when he fully entwined their hands instead. Sasuke was inwardly thinking to himself.

_"That kiss at the arena didn't mean anything. But, I felt different when we agreed not to count it. Was I right about it just being because I wanted to spare them the discomfort? I do feel so much more different than my usual self around Sakura. Does that mean...? Am I... In love?"_

The weirdest part about his inward thoughts was that he wasn't bothering to deny that he was in love. He had no clue what it felt like, but he knew that he loved Sakura. But, did he love her in this way?

_"Maybe, if I do this, then I can find out."_

Before he had even finished the thought, he had started to slowly lean in. Sakura soon followed. She had been thinking almost exactly the same thing. Their eyes had completely closed as they continued to move forward. All thoughts of the mission had left their minds. They only focused on the other person leaning in. There was just a small gap between them when-

A flash in Sasuke's closed eyes.

_He was on the bridge where he had killed Danzo. The lightning in his hand sparkled as he moved it towards Sakura._

Another flash.

_He had her by the throat and he grabbed the kunai from her hand, slicing at her neck._

He gasped and his eyes shot open as he grabbed Sakura's shoulder to stop her from coming any closer. She immediately opened her eyes and stopped moving.

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

He let his hand fall to his side as he took a step back. "I'm fine. You should get some rest."

After a few seconds of silence, she nodded and headed back inside. As she got back into her sleeping bag, she thought to herself.

_"Was he really just about to kiss me? Then, why did he stop? I really need to quit thinking like this. I can't keep living in my own fantasies. He wasn't going to kiss me for real and he never will..."_

Sasuke stared at his hands. He hadn't moved from his spot that he had been standing in when she went back inside the cave. Those horrible memories always came to him, whether it was in a dream or when he was awake. Why now? Slowly, he sat down and stared at the moon with half closed eyes. What he had just attempted to do seemed like a mistake at this point.

_"What was I thinking?! Even if I do feel like that, I don't deserve her anyway. I'm just a disappointment and all I can do is bring her pain. Why did I do that?"_

As he continued to stare at the moon, he wondered why he felt like it was something he had to do.

_"What am I saying?! I'm not in love with her or anyone else and I'm never going to be. But... Why did I do that?"_

The more he thought, the more he realized his true intentions in that moment.

_"I had to know how I felt. There was no point to it anyway. I already know how I feel and I don't like her that way."_

He couldn't help but turn around to face the cave entrance where she had disappeared from his sight.

_"Then, what's this feeling that I get when I'm around her? She still feels the same but... Maybe I should ask her what it feels like, to be in love."_

Sasuke barely resisted the urge to punch himself senseless.

_"STOP IT! WHY AM I THINKING LIKE THIS?! I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT LOVE CRAP! My only focus needs to be on this mission!"_

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get her out of his head. Extremely frustrated, he gripped his ears and shook his head.

_"GET OUT OF MY HEAD! WHY DO YOU ALWAYS DO THIS TO ME SAKURA?!"_

He stopped shaking his head and his eyes widened.

_"Wait a minute... Isn't this one of the signs that you're in love?"_

This time he couldn't stop himself from slapping his face as hard as he could. He lied to himself the best he could possibly do.

_"I think that I'm getting sick. I'll ask Sakura what it is later. She'll know what's wrong and why I feel so different. I have to be prepared for anything on this mission so I can't be getting sick."_

Once again, he turned back to face the cave entrance. This time, he had a small look of pleasure on his face.

_"She did look really, attractive, with the moonlight shining on her. Maybe I am..."_

Barely suppressing a scream of frustration, Sasuke slapped himself for the second time. It left a gigantic handprint on the side of his face.

_"I'm definitely getting ill or something. I have to stop this soon. Thinking like this is a weakness. I am not 'in love' and I am never going to be."_

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sasuke is definitely "sick" if you know what I mean. Sorry I left a cliffhanger for Kakashi, Gaara, and Kankuro. That will come up again. How long will they keep denying their feelings for each other?! The suspense is killing me and it makes me mad to write it. I know that I can't just make them both in love with each other right off though. Oh well, I'm making us all wait longer for it. We just have to be patient.

By the way, am I the only one who actually liked Zaku, Dosu, and Kin? I was a little disappointed when they were killed off so suddenly. To me, they were pretty cool. Ah, memories...


	15. What is Love?

**Author's** **Note: **So I literally got rid of my writer's block the day I released the previous chapter. I finished this one that night. Anyway, thanks so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! They make me more confident in my writing. Enjoy!

* * *

It was very early in the morning on the third day of the search.

Shino and Kiba continued to make their way through their area, searching everything and everywhere to see if they could find the slightest hint or clue. Akamaru sniffed around their current location tirelessly. Kiba helped his companion search through the low grounds. Shino was in the trees, taking the high grounds.

As soon as they had split up a few days ago, Shino had sent some of his bugs out to search the whole area that they had been assigned. Speaking of which, they should be returning right about now.

After waiting a few seconds, the Aburame narrowed his eyes in confusion. They literally should have come back at that very moment, but he didn't hear one sound that told him that they were near. Nor did he see a single sign of any of them. Lingering at his current location for the next few minutes, Shino wondered what had happened. He jumped down and made his way to the Inuzuka and his dog.

"My bugs should have been back by now," Shino said after shoving his hands into his coat pockets.

While Akamaru continued to sniff around the area, Kiba halted and turned his head towards his teammate. "Do you think that maybe _they_ knew somehow?"

"I'm not sure, but it's definitely possible."

The area they were in right now was covered with large rocks and trees that were so close together that only little slivers of light broke through the clusters of leaves.

All of a sudden, Kiba's eyes widened and Akamaru began to bark in alarm.

"Get down!" Kiba shouted.

The moment after, explosions rocked the environment. Everyone had gotten in cover from the bombs. A hysterical laugh came from somewhere in the smoke.

When the dust had cleared, Kiba coughed and turned around to see a kunai coming straight for his neck at a blinding speed. It was too late to get out of the way. Akamaru barked and whimpered as blood spattered everywhere.

* * *

Sakura woke up to see that the sun had just risen. After she had sat up, she glanced at Sasuke's sleeping bag to see that it had remained untouched since he had woken up earlier. She turned her gaze to the entrance to see him sitting next to it, looking utterly exhausted.

Sasuke looked at her from the corner of his tired eye as she made her way outside. He stood up and stretched, almost passing out as he blinked.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked.

"I am, but you're obviously not."

"I'll last," he replied.

The Uchiha went back inside to gather his things. After he had finished, he turned and headed back outside. Before he could make it back to the entrance, Sakura blocked his way.

"Move, we have to get going."

"Sasuke, if you don't get any rest then you're going to pass out."

"No I'm not." He gently moved her out of his way and leaped away from the rock where the entrance sat. "Hurry up."

Sakura gave him a concerned look before gathering her belongings and meeting him outside. "We're resting longer tonight. You told me yesterday that we were ahead of where we planned to be by today."

The Uchiha spent the next minute clumsily wrapping the dark bandana around his head. He didn't respond as they began to travel at a slow pace.

"Sasuke, what are you going to do if we get ambushed? Drop to the ground from exhaustion?"

He smirked. "Hn, you underestimate me."

"I'm serious! You can't keep going like this."

He stopped and stared at her with a tired stoic expression. "I've been doing this for at least the last three years. I think that I can go a little longer."

Sakura gasped and frowned. She didn't know how to respond, so they continued on their journey.

* * *

It was around noon.

"We should take a break Hinata," Naruto said.

Hinata glanced back at her husband, deactivating the Byakugan. "I need a short rest as well."

They settled down behind the cover of some large bushes. Naruto pulled a cup of ramen out of his pack and rubbed his hands together. Hinata dug in hers for some food and they chatted as they ate lunch.

"Naruto, can I ask you something?"

"Sure! You know that you can ask me anything!"

She smiled and looked at him. "Well, I just want to know why you keep pressuring Sasuke and Sakura so much."

The Uzumaki chuckled and leaned against a tree stump. "Oh c'mon. I'm not allowed to have some fun?"

Hinata frowned and narrowed her eyes. "What's the real reason?"

Naruto matched her expression as he began to stare at the ground. He sighed, but Hinata spoke before he could.

"I don't think that you should bother them. They say that nothing's happening."

"Hinata, I know that you know how Sakura feels. You want to help her just like she helped you, right?"

She nodded. "It's different with them though. If they want everyone else to stay out of it, then we should."

"I know what you mean, but..." Naruto swallowed.

They stared at the ground in silence for a few seconds.

"But, you see the way they are around each other. Don't you?"

The former Hyuga turned her gaze back towards her husband. To her surprise, he had a sad grin on his face. She didn't interrupt as he continued.

"Sakura has always loved him. Ever since Sasuke came back a few weeks ago, it's almost as if, well, all I know is that it's different."

Hinata's expression changed to one of curiosity. "I've noticed that and I've told Sakura. All of us said something about it at the hot springs."

Naruto turned his grin into a smile. "Sasuke is different now. But around Sakura, he's even more different than usual."

He chuckled again before finishing. "Sasuke is actually, happy around Sakura."

Hinata was a little bewildered, but not much. She knew that there was something peculiar about the Uchiha lately.

They finished lunch and gathered their belongings. Making their way through the bushes, Hinata was just about to activate the Byakugan again when-

"Hinata!" Naruto screamed as he tackled her and shielded her entire body.

An explosion went off right where she had been standing. Hysterical laughing from multiple attackers started soon after.

"Aw, isn't that cute. Hm, the war hero trying to save the one he loves."

Naruto looked up and rolled off of Hinata. They both gasped as soon as they saw the speaker's face. Both knew who it was only from descriptions of his looks.

The man laughed. "I certainly hope that you two enjoyed your last day together."

* * *

Sasuke rubbed his eyes as they continued to walk. Sakura had not let him even try running, threatening to knock him out and drag his body for the rest of the day. The sun had started to set and he guessed that it was around six.

"We should look for a place to stop," Sakura said.

Sasuke turned his head in surprise. "It's too early."

"I told you that we were going to stop earlier today. You need rest."

"I'm fine," he announced as he sped up.

"No, you're not."

He twisted his head around. "Yes I-"

Sasuke didn't finish his sentence as he fell to the ground. Still dazed, he rubbed the side of his face as he opened his eyes. Apparently, he had smacked into a low hanging tree branch. Cursing out of frustration, he clumsily sat up, ignoring Sakura's smirk.

"I can still go longer. I just didn't see it, that's all."

The moment he had made it to his feet, Sakura grabbed his collar and tossed him into the tree, pinning him against it. "We're finding somewhere to stay for the night. Got it?"

Sasuke smirked and didn't try to move. "Why should I?"

The smirk faded away after Sakura punched a large whole in the section next to his head. "I'll keep my promise on knocking you out if that's what you want."

He sighed. "Hn, fine."

Shortly afterward, they found another small cave. Sakura didn't protest this time because she knew that Sasuke was in desperate need of rest. As they both placed their belongings in separate corners, Sakura eyed the Uchiha, seeing if he would even attempt to sleep. To her dismay, he didn't.

"Sasuke, we're stopping early so you can get some rest. Please try."

"No matter what I do, I'm not going to get much rest. I'll wake up sometime because of- Never mind."

She gave him a look of concern before heading to the entrance. At the last second, she turned and pleaded with him once more. "Please Sasuke."

He frowned when he saw how desperate she was. "Okay."

To her relief, he crawled into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes. She stepped outside.

Sasuke twisted until he had found a comfortable position. Finally settling down, he thought of how long he'd go that night without a nightmare. The reason he had willingly agreed was because he wanted to be fully aware if they were attacked. Gritting his teeth, he imagined what he'd do if the enemy hurt Sakura. He wanted nothing more than to protect her from harm, even if it was just from words. After a few more seconds, the Uchiha drifted into sleep.

* * *

_Sasuke watched in disbelief as Sakura jumped in front of him, shielding him from Gaara. The large sand arm slammed into her, pinning her into a tree, and she passed out. She had just saved his life. Sasuke tried to move again but closed his eyes in frustration and pain, the black markings still in place._

_"You better hurry! The sand will harden and crush her soon!" Gaara shouted hysterically, drooling from the monster-like half of his face._

_Naruto started to attack._

_Time went at a fast rate and slowed down after a few seconds._

_Naruto crashed into Sasuke's body and they both caught their breath as they rested on the tree branch._

_"All that work and you only managed to get in one hit?" Sasuke asked._

_The dust from the explosion began to clear. Gaara was still dazed._

_Sasuke gritted his teeth. This had all been his fault. If he hadn't used the curse mark, then Sakura wouldn't be in a life or death situation._

_"Naruto, listen to me."_

_The Uzumaki turned his head._

_"You have to save Sakura, if it's the last thing you do!"_

_It shifted._

_"Sakura, thank you."_

_Sasuke caught her as she fell._

_He hadn't planned on any of this happening. The original plan was to sneak out of the village without anyone knowing. Only with his luck though, his annoying teammate had to come and ruin it. In truth, she was the hardest to say goodbye to. However, there was no turning back from this. This was necessary if he was going to fight Itachi. Then, maybe he could come back to the village again after his older brother was dead._

_As he put her down on the bench, he couldn't help but stare. No matter how annoying she was, Sakura was still the one that he liked the most in the village. He didn't know why, but none of that mattered right now. He turned and started to walk off, but stopped after only a single step. Sighing, Sasuke looked back at her one last time before forcing himself to move, shoving his hands in his pockets._

_Another shift._

_ This time, he was standing in the middle of his old house. Looking down at his hands, he noticed that his left was heavily bandaged, so that meant that this wasn't a memory and that he was at his current age. A noise coming from outside shook him out of his thoughts. He opened the front door and saw his mother crying in the middle of the street, her back turned away from him._

_"Don't come any closer!" Mikoto shouted as he stopped just outside the door._

_Sasuke was in complete shock. "I-It's me. S-Sasuke."_

_She turned to face him and took a few steps back. "Sasuke?"_

_Mikoto retreated faster as he slowly took another step forward._

_"I'm your son," he shakily whispered. Why was his own mother afraid of him?_

_"My boy... My baby boy is... A murderer."_

_Sasuke's mouth dropped to the ground. He didn't dare move another inch._

_Suddenly, two more people appeared beside her._

_Itachi scowled at his younger brother. "I took everyone's lives in our entire clan for you! And what did you do?!"_

_Fugaku, Sasuke's father, had a sorrowful and disapproving look on his face. "Itachi killed all of us just to save you. You are a disgrace to the Uchiha name."_

_As Sasuke began to speak, they were gone in a flash. However, he remained on the spot. It only took a few more seconds for two more figures to form in the spot where his family had stood._

_Kurushimi grinned and laughed. "Are you really this selfish?! You would let your friends die for you?!"_

_Once again, another person came into view as Sasuke tried to speak. He gasped in horror as Sakura stood in front of Kenshi, who had his sword to her throat._

_The next instant, he was frozen in place. He couldn't even blink._

_Kurushimi laughed for a second time. "I promise that I will take everyone you care about away from you. How would it feel to have your family taken away from you, AGAIN!?"_

_The paralyzed Uchiha tried to make words come out with no luck._

_The male across from him smirked and turned his head to Kenshi. In return, he gave Sasuke a look of pure evil. The Uchiha watched in terror as he sliced Sakura's throat._

* * *

Breathing heavily while his hands shook, Sasuke slowly opened his eyes. Quickly rolling over, he gasped out of surprise and worry when he saw that Sakura was not in her sleeping bag. Desperation immediately took over his mind as he jumped up and ran to the entrance.

"Sakura?!" Sasuke shouted as he looked outside.

"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

He breathed a small sigh of relief as he saw her sitting right beside the entrance, writing something down in a notebook.

"Nothing. I was concerned when I saw that you weren't in there."

"It's just now around midnight. I was probably about to head in anyway."

"Hn," he grunted as he sat down beside her. In all honesty, Sasuke was surprised that he had slept that long. For the next minute, he watched as she continued to write in the notebook. "What's that?"

She took her attention away from writing and directed it at him. "Oh, it's just some things that we know for sure about the enemy."

She handed the list to him and sure enough, there were notes scribbled all over the page.

After a few minutes of studying the facts, he gave it back and she put it away.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Sakura asked with a hint of worry.

"I don't know. I wouldn't worry about them though. They're too strong to give up that easily."

The kunoichi smiled and leaned back on the hard rock. "You're right, I shouldn't be worried."

What he had been wondering about since the previous night entered the front of his mind once again. His inner thoughts were screaming and shouting at him, commanding him not to say anything about it. However, something else inside of him told him that he needed to ask, needed to know. Finally, he had managed to ignore the demands to not say anything about it and he came to a conclusion that this truly was something that he had to know.

"Sakura?"

"Hm?"

The nervous Uchiha swallowed. "What does _it_ feel like?"

She gave him a puzzled look.

He repeated the question, this time adding more so that she knew for sure what he wanted to know. Sasuke hesitated because he was certain that this would be awkward for her. He soon discarded that fact, deciding that it was something that absolutely, without a doubt, had to be answered.

"Sakura, what does it feel like... to be in love?"

The Haruno was visibly shocked, but Sasuke didn't act like he had noticed. The question wasn't a joke or prank, and he wanted her to know that he was serious.

After another second or so, she got over her shock and thought of what to say. Scratching her head, she began to reply nervously.

"Um, well, you feel a lot of things."

"Such as?"

"Uh, I guess one sign is that you feel comfortable and like to be around them, like you can tell them just about anything."

_"I do feel that way around you,"_ he thought to himself. His expression told her that he needed more than that.

"You always want to protect them from any kind of harm or danger."

_"I'll protect you no matter what, even at the cost of my own life..."_

"They're probably on your mind all the time, too."

_"I think about you everyday and you are always on my mind."_

Sakura scratched her head again out of embarrassment. "Sasuke, not to be nosy or anything, but why are you asking me?"

He had been intrigued at how many signs there were. What was even more fascinating to him was that all of the things she had mentioned were correct in his case. "I just... I'm curious..."

Sakura had apparently believed his half right excuse.

Sasuke shuffled around for a couple of seconds. His next question was going to make her uncomfortable, so he tried to act as casual as he could. "Do you ever dream about that person?"

As expected, she became flustered and turned a light shade of red. Turning away, she gulped and tried to answer without stuttering. "Um, yes."

"Hn... Do you feel the urge to act cool around them all the time?"

She turned her head back to him, this time controlling her embarrassment. "Yeah. And you feel different when you touch, even if it's just by accident."

_"I definitely feel different when that happens with us,"_ he continued to think. This was all overwhelming for Sasuke._ "Am I really in love?"_

Sakura was puzzled at the Uchiha's persistence. His answer of "I'm just curious" was kind of suspicious when it was about this subject. Somehow though, she felt less awkward as their conversation progressed.

"What about when you look into their eyes?" Sasuke asked. He was deeply interested with every answer he received, each one pushing him further to the conclusion that he really was in love with her. It seemed so impossible for him to feel an emotion as serious as this one, but with every passing second, it came closer and closer to being normal.

"It feels like you're the only two people in the world, like nothing else matters."

A light bulb went off in Sasuke's head. _"I-I think that I am in love with you..."_

His heart started racing as he envisioned telling her. How would she react? Would she be happy? Disbelieving? Even more stressful, what would he do after that?

Swallowing, he decided to suck it up and get it over with. "Sakura, I..."

She stared at him with a curious look, wondering what he was going to say. "Yeah?"

The words wouldn't come out of his mouth. The bad part, however, was that a new realization came to mind. _"I don't deserve her. I've already hurt her so much and that's all I can do. Bring her pain... Besides, I just really like her and she's just a close friend. It's nothing more."_ He inwardly laughed at himself. _"What was I thinking? It's just a coincidence that those signs are the way I feel towards her. Yeah, I shouldn't say that I love her because of a few coincidental things. I only feel that way because she's a close friend. That's all."_

"Sasuke, you can tell me anything."

He rubbed one hand through his hair. He couldn't stop laughing at himself for thinking that he was in love.

When he turned back to her again, there was something, strange, that bothered him. It was only for a small instant, but he thought that he could see a pained sort of look in her eyes.

"Sakura?"

She faced the front and frowned, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her chin on top of them.

_"What's wrong with me?! I never should've asked her that! Now she's upset because of me! I'm right about only hurting her!"_ he angrily screamed at himself.

"I'm sorry. I never should've asked you that."

"No, it's fine."

"It's not fine when I keep hurting you."

"You didn't upset me," she lied while putting on a fake smile. "I just... If it helps... You could tell me about some of the things that are bothering you."

He frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Then I'd only be hurting you more. I haven't told you because I want to stop hurting you."

"You're n-"

"I can see it in your eyes. You're keeping it all locked away deep inside you. All of the pain I caused, you're trying to hide it."

She sniffed and tears silently began to fall. _"I knew that it was too much to hope for. I just thought since he was asking me... And then he started to say something else... He's right, all of it is coming back now. I don't want to be mad at him, but..."_

"You shouldn't keep it in any longer."

"I don't want to-"

"Don't worry about bothering me. It'll be nothing compared to what I've done."

Sakura continued to cry in silence, debating over whether she should do as he said and let it all out. Finally, she gave in. "Did you even care about anyone else?"

He was unmoved, still sitting with a stoic expression.

"Start a revolution?!"

Silence.

"Kill your best friend?!"

Sakura did her best to keep herself from obliterating something. Sasuke finally spoke up.

"Keep going," he whispered.

"It isn't just you! Naruto was walking to his death when he fought you! He knew! He knew that both of you were supposed to die!"

His expression softened as she went on.

"Both of you stupid idiots were just going to lie there and die! If it weren't for me then both of you would've died! You were-!"

The Uchiha's heart was pounding out of his chest. On the outside, it looked like he was untouched by her words. On the inside, he was exploding and tearing himself to pieces. He hadn't realized just how much he had made her suffer. To make it worse, he knew that there was much more that she wasn't telling him, and that was probably because it hurt too much.

She had started to sob. "You were... No, it's selfish."

"Let it out."

"You were going to leave me alone. You left me on a bench and I lost you for three years. Naruto went with Master Jiraiya to train for two... Both of you were dying and I saw all the blood..."

It was trailing back to their conversation from the previous night. However, last night she hadn't gotten to her breaking point. Sasuke knew that she couldn't say anything else. If she did, then he knew exactly where it would've gone.

"Sasuke, I know that you've been through a lot, and I want to help."

He was in complete disbelief. She was in so much emotional pain right now, yet she still wanted to help him, to turn the conversation back his way. _"How can you being saying that?! You're angry at me and you have every right, but you still want to help me right now?!"_

She herself didn't even know how her rage towards him turned to sorrow for him in an instant.

Sasuke moved closer to her. _"What if she can help? I was planning on telling her this later, but what if I tell her about Itachi now?"_

Ever so slowly, he began to reach out to her. Maybe it would be best if he told her now. Suddenly, Sasuke stopped his hand about halfway from her. She had her head turned and wasn't paying attention.

_"I shouldn't be this selfish. If I tell her now, then that would only be helping me. I don't deserve to be helped..."_

His eyes softened as he began to move his hand once again. The Haruno gasped in surprise when he cupped both sides of her face, turning her head so that she faced him. They stared into the other's eyes as he wiped her tears away. After he had finished, his hands were still in the same place.

Sasuke shut his eyes and leaned forward to press his lips against her forehead.

Sakura closed her gaping mouth and felt herself relax. Her eyes closed, too.

They stayed like this for what seemed like forever. His lips were still gently pressed to her forehead as he wrapped his arms around her.

When he finally removed his lips, he let her collapse against him with her head leaning on his shoulder, her face buried deep into the crook of his neck. She eventually wrapped her arms around his neck and held on as if her life depended on it. In response, he tightened his grip on her, pulling her closer so that she was basically sitting in his lap.

"Sakura," he whispered, "I will never let you be alone again. I promise..."

"Sasuke..." she whispered as she began to cry into his neck.

He tugged her even closer, not caring about the wet tears hitting his skin.

Sakura fell asleep shortly after. While Sasuke rubbed one hand through her hair and one across her back, he wondered about his own thoughts.

_"Am I lying to myself? Am I love with you Sakura? All I know for sure is that I never want to let you go..."_

That night, as they fell asleep in each other's arms, Sasuke Uchiha did not have a nightmare.

* * *

He chuckled as he twirled a kunai around with his fingers. The others slept quietly below him. He was sitting on a high tree branch, reminiscing over his pleasurable thoughts of what would happen soon.

"Tomorrow for sure Uchiha... Tomorrow for sure..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Sasuke is such an emotional mess... I originally planned to have this chapter end with what will happen next chapter. But, I figured that ending the chapter like this fit it better.

By the way, my regular updating schedule for this story is early Saturday morning every week. I go by central time so I don't know what time that is for some of you. That was just a little reminder for guests or people who are new to this fanfiction.

Please review! Thanks for reading!

**OTHER UPDATES**

So that post 700 story I've been talking about MIGHT be out next week. I plan on updating it on Saturdays like I do this story. I'm not sure about everything yet though. I have a ton of crap to do this weekend so I'm behind on writing for this story. I haven't finished the next chapter because of all this stuff. If I can just get through Tuesday then I can get back on track. Oh well, wish me luck!


	16. Rematch

**TO THE REVIEWER WHO ASKED IF I COULD MAKE THIS STORY CANON WITH GAIDEN:** I don't intend to do that with this story. But, I will make a one shot about that and inform you when that will be published.

**Author's**** Note:** I finally finished all that crap for school. That takes a lot of weight off my shoulders. I apologize if this chapter has more grammar errors or repeated words. I didn't have a lot of time to edit and I'm still behind on writing. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Sakura blinked rapidly as the bright light from the sunrise hit her eyes. At first, she was surprised at the warmth from another body against hers. Then, reminiscing over last nights events, she adjusted her head so that she could see if Sasuke was awake. As expected, he was. Something was different this time though. The Uchiha actually looked like he had gotten some rest.

"I was wondering when you would wake up," he said with a small smirk.

She smiled and blushed. He still had his arms wrapped tightly around her, much to her bewilderment. Even more to her astonishment, he showed no signs of letting go anytime soon.

"How long have you been up?" she asked as she moved out of his grasp to sit beside him. The reason she moved was because she was afraid that she was bothering him by being that close.

Sasuke was disappointed at the loss, but quickly discarded the feeling. "About half an hour."

They watched in silence as the sun continued to rise. This would be the last day for them to search their area before they headed to the location where everyone would meet up. Nothing had been out of the ordinary. So far...

Sasuke was still confused about his feelings towards Sakura. Every sign she mentioned last night had been true in his case. But, he couldn't possibly be in love, right? Also, he still wanted her to be in his arms and the loss was getting painful.

"When do you want to leave?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"Later."

"That's very descriptive..."

Sasuke scratched his head and looked the other way. He was becoming extremely upset with himself because of his desire to have her in his arms again. He debated over whether or not he should give in to his desires. Every ounce of his pride shouted no, but his mind and heart screamed yes. Instead of making a decision on that, he tried to keep his thoughts off of it by chatting.

"Do you think we'll find anything today?" he asked boredly.

Sakura thought hard for a moment. "It will be good if we do, but I'm kind of hoping that we don't because it might lead to a trap or something like that."

"Hn, I guess I agree."

They looked at the rising sun for a few more minutes. Sasuke was enjoying the cool breeze that repeatedly swept his bangs away from his Rinnegan. However, he hadn't noticed it because he was staring at Sakura. In fact, if he had noticed it, he wouldn't have cared because it gave him a better view of his teammate. The wind blowing through her hair and the sunlight reflecting in her eyes made her even more attractive than she already was. Sasuke turned away again and shook his head a couple of times. If he didn't stop now, it would almost certainly lead to him making himself look like a complete idiot.

"We should eat and start searching," he stated, trying to sound casual.

"Oh, sure," she replied.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura were walking at a slow pace through the last section of their assigned area. It was around noon and they were almost done with their search.

Sasuke constantly twisted his head around, his Sharingan active along with his bandana wrapped around his head, fully revealing the Rinnegan.

Sakura was listening intently for any sudden noises and watching for any movement that was unusual.

After a couple more steps, the Uchiha suddenly felt like something was off. He narrowed his eyes and stopped with Sakura quickly copying his actions.

"What's wrong?" she questioned quietly.

He didn't answer as he twisted his head once more. Suddenly, he gasped and put a hand protectively in front of Sakura. At first she was confused, but knew exactly why Sasuke had taken the action when she heard a laugh from nearby.

"You again?" Sasuke questioned cautiously. The tone of his voice made it sound as if he already knew what was coming.

Another chuckle was heard. Then, about thirty feet away, a man stepped out from behind a large tree.

"Kenshi..." Sasuke announced with venom.

The master swordsman's appearance was different from the last time Sasuke had seen him. He was wearing a pair of baggy black pants. His shirt was sleeveless and a dark shade of grey. Both of his arms had tape on them in the exact way that Lee's were. The male's yellow hair was still as messy as ever, his scar the same as it had been. His brown eyes were half closed, perhaps from exhaustion.

"Nice seeing you again Uchiha."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. _"So this is the other one who attacked Sasuke. But, he looks like a normal ninja. How is it that this guy gave Sasuke trouble last time?" _As she continued to ponder, she put on her gloves and got into a battle stance.

Kenshi had a curious look on his face as he tilted his head towards her. "You must be Sakura Haruno, the medical kunoichi I've heard all about."

She had a visible look of confusion.

The scarred male smirked. "You'd be happy to know that Sasuke thinks about you ALL the time. We got that just by copying a few of his memories."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke, who looked to be unmoved by the other male's words.

The swords master turned his attention back to the Uchiha. "You know, she is pretty attractive. I can see why you think about her so much. I guess that I'll let her live and take her with me."

Sasuke tightly gripped the hilt of his chokuto. _"Calm down. He's just trying to get in your head."_

The kunoichi behind him was still noticeably shocked. "_Does Sasuke really think about me that way? Focus!"_

Kenshi was amused by the whole scene. _"Hm, so it still seems like I can get under his skin when I talk about her. I wonder how far I can push it."_

All of their thoughts were interrupted by a twig snapping at a close distance from the two members of Team 7. Sakura effortlessly turned around and punched the attacker in the nose, sending him flying into a gigantic tree trunk.

Kenshi sighed and facepalmed._ "Why did Kurushimi have to make me take these guys?"_

Sasuke and Sakura were awkwardly sharing a glance. That attack had been so basic and juvenile. It hadn't even been performed right.

Sasuke wondered to himself while keeping an eye on a disappointed Kenshi. _"What's with this? First, Kenshi didn't even try to do any kind of ambush. He just walked out into the open without a care. Now, his teammate just blindly rushed out like that. The guy was slow and clumsy, too."_

"Is this what your army's made of?" Sasuke asked mockingly.

A sigh. "Forget about that useless idiot. Your real problem is me."

The Uchiha planned for another minute until he sensed more intruders nearby. "Sakura-"

"I know."

"There's about thirty of them," he cautioned. Looking back, he saw her with an excited expression on her face.

"I can handle them by myself. You just worry about Kenshi."

He smirked. "Thirty against one? That seems a little unfair. For them."

She returned the smirk and Sasuke turned his gaze back to the main attacker. He widened his eyes and gasped. That look on the man's face had only been visible for an instant. But, it was almost as if it was a look of, sorrow?!

Kenshi had heard everything that the two shinobi were conversing about and how they joked even when they had so many attackers around them. _"That was a lot like me and... her... used to be." _He mentally cursed himself for wondering so foolishly. _"How can I be thinking like that?! They both deserve to suffer horrible deaths!"_

When the swordsman finished straightening himself out, he slowly pulled his katana out of its sheathe.

Sakura moved away from Sasuke, giving him room to make a move. He had decided that the area where they were currently located would be too small for a Perfect Susanoo. Even though he'd be completely shielded from Kenshi's attacks, he would not be able to get a good hit in the cover of all the trees. His final conclusion was to use half of a Susanoo if possible.

Just when the Uchiha was starting to be surrounded by purple, Kenshi was right in front of him slashing with the katana. The surprised ninja quickly dodged and the purple was gone.

Sakura's jaw dropped to the ground._ "So he really is that fast... I still saw the outline of where he had been standing when he tried to hit Sasuke."_ She turned her head to look at her bewildered partner. _"Can he really take him on by himself? What am I saying?! If anyone can beat this guy, it's definitely Sasuke!"_

Meanwhile, the last of his clan was going over what had just happened and planning simultaneously. _"Kenshi is even faster than last time. Hmph, what he doesn't know is that I've improved quite a bit as well."_

His thoughts were interrupted by a laugh from their enemy. "Do you really think I don't know what you're trying to do Uchiha? You're trying to end it quick by using Susanoo. Well I've got some news for you. I don't plan on letting you use it anytime soon. Now, are we gonna have a real fight or not?!"

A short gust of wind came, making Sasuke's cloak move to the side as he unsheathed his chokuto. "Sakura, I'm counting on you to keep that promise on not doing anything stupid."

She grinned. "I will if you do."

With this, he showed one final smirk before turning to face his opponent, putting a serious look on his face. The Mangekyo shifted into place as they stared each other down.

The scarred male twirled his katana a few times. "I've been waiting for this rematch for about a year."

Sasuke positioned himself so that he was in a battle stance. "Then stop talking and let's fight!"

After another few seconds, they launched themselves at each other.

Sakura was left to stare in awe as they battled. Their strikes were so fast that she only saw blurs whenever they clashed, sparks flying with each one. After they had distanced themselves from her, she silently wished her partner good luck before turning to face the direction of where her battle would be held.

The Haruno adjusted her gloves one last time while she smirked and waited. "Who's first?"

Right after she had mocked them, all thirty or so shinobi came out from their hiding spots, surrounding the lone kunoichi. They each hurled some kind of weapon toward her. The weird thing was that about only a third of them were thrown straight, so she was left without a single scratch as she easily dodged what had been thrown her away.

_"What's up with this?! Most of them can't even throw a shuriken of kunai straight! Is this some sort of strategy?!"_

She returned to reality when three of them charged towards her. She swiftly dodged the first's punch and he nearly fell over from the effort. The second did the same as the first, but he ended up nailing his teammate in the face, making him fall to the ground.

Sakura quickly turned on her heel and nailed the second in the back of the head with a chakra filled punch, sending him sailing. The first got up and attacked again, the third joining in. Even though she was taking on two of them at the same time, it was so easy to dodge every punch and kick they threw. When one tried a slow punch, she grabbed his arm and twisted it, making him fall to his knees as she caught the other's leg. Holding them both with a tight grip, she forced chakra to both hands as she began to spin around at a fast rate. After she had decided that she had enough speed, Sakura let them both go and they crashed into the ground on opposite ends.

_"Something's not right. That was way too simple."_

Just as the words crossed her mind, a paper bomb went off behind her, but not close enough to actually do damage. However, it left her stunned, causing her to be oblivious to five more attackers jumping towards her. Each hit their mark, making her collapse to the ground and rethink her strategy.

A hail storm of kunai came next, forcing the kunoichi to weave around. After that was over, she threw down a smoke bomb and found cover behind some bushes to catch her breath. She only got a few seconds before the ground began to shake and all the trees, boulders, and everything that made the terrain uneven started to crumble away.

Hopping high into the air, she turned to face the sky and was caught by surprise when a wall of earth blocked her way. Before she could slam into the blocked spot, she twisted her body so that she landed on one of the walls that had formed on the sides. Sakura gasped when she saw that her and all of her attackers were completely closed in. Some of them had made special places that were ignited with fire, the only lights in the dark space. Gazing into the very back, the kunoichi had her eyes locked on the one who had cast the jutsu. He was currently holding it, a ram hand sign in place.

_"Now I know what they're trying to do. They want to keep me busy so that I tire out. That's why he performed an earth style jutsu that keeps us all in one area. Unfortunately for them, I don't quit that easily!"_

* * *

Sasuke huffed and glanced back to see the gigantic block forming around where Sakura was fighting. He didn't have anytime to do anything because, in the short instant that he looked back, Kenshi kicked his stomach and put a deep gash in his side with his blade.

"You shouldn't be worrying about her right now Uchiha. Your fight is with me!"

Sasuke held onto his side with one hand, the other holding the chokuto out threateningly. He tried to put his worry for Sakura out of his mind at the moment, deciding that she was perfectly capable of handling herself. He slowly moved his hand away from the wound on his side, anger starting to surge through him. The smirk on Kenshi's face only made his fury grow. Not hesitating any longer, Sasuke launched himself at his opponent with full force. The master swordsman managed to block every strike, struggling with each one. After a couple more strikes, their blades were locked together in a battle for power.

"I'll admit it Uchiha, you've definitely improved in terms of your speed. There's still no way you're gonna beat me though."

Sasuke pushed harder with his blade, forcing Kenshi to slide back a few inches. "You know, I've fought a swords master that can use eight swords at once."

The male with the scar put more force into his katana, evening out the battle once again. "Well, I only need one sword to beat you."

With this, they separated and Kenshi made a break for the trees, Sasuke close behind. Both put their blades back into their sheathes. As they jumped from branch to branch, they had a battle of taijutsu.

Kenshi continued to struggle with each dodge and block. He became even more frustrated when Sasuke swiftly blocked and dodged all of his attacks. _"He can keep up with everything I do now! This stupid kid has even copied my speed if he's able to keep up with my movements like this! I CAN'T WAIT TO STAB OUT THOSE EYES OF HIS, ESPECIALLY THAT SHARINGAN! That's the only reason that he's keeping up with me..."_

The light haired male finally managed to get his head straight, focusing more intently at the problem at hand. He had managed to stay calm and block the blows with more ease. They finally dropped to the ground and continued their battle of taijutsu. However, Sasuke was the only one on the offensive, not giving his opponent one opportunity to strike. He thought to himself, _"This isn't working. I have to come up with something else."_

A few strikes later, Kenshi smirked when he saw that the Uchiha's next move was a simple kick to the gut. He huffed in surprise when, in just a very short instant, the direction of his kick changed. The brown eyed man squeezed his eyes shut along with gritting his teeth as the foot connected with his chin, sending him flying.

Sasuke gasped for air and smirked with delight as the male landed, holding his bloody mouth and growling in pain and frustration.

Kenshi glared at the Uchiha when he looked up, still holding his jaw. _"He's even copied some of my moves! Curse that Sharingan of his!" _His eyes widened as he came to another realization.

"Using my own move against me huh... hehehe. You might be able to do that kind of thing for a little bit, but I can see it. It takes up a lot of stamina for you to do this, doesn't it?"

Sasuke hesitated to move for a moment. His breathing was very heavy. Kenshi was right about this taking a lot out of him, but... There was still a lot of things that the swordsman hadn't figured out yet. He was brought back to reality when Kenshi took his chance to attack.

The male smirked with pleasure when he made the man with mismatched eyes begin to struggle. _"Ha! He's already worn out!"_ Next, he threw a punch that Sasuke caught with one hand. The moment Kenshi was about to throw another punch with his free hand, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at a terrifying realization. He fell to his knees as the Uchiha tightened his grip on the hand. _"H-He's stealing my chakra?! It's that Rinnegan of his!"_

Taking out a kunai, Kenshi stabbed Sasuke's arm that was gripping his hand. The Uchiha cried out in pain and let go, pulling the weapon out of his flesh._ "I knew that something like that was going to happen. It was worth the risk though." _He noted the last part as Kenshi stumbled away, gaining a short distance for time to breathe. Sasuke gritted his teeth as lightning formed in his hand. _"Let's see if he has enough left in him to escape this."_

Kenshi rested against a tree and turned his head when he heard the sound of chirping birds._ "What's he gonna do with that?! I'm too far away for him to get me." _His relief quickly changed into disbelief when Sasuke flung his arm, shards of lightning coming straight for him._ "Chidori Senbon?!" _Kenshi shouted inside of his head as he attempted to jump out of the way. _"No! I'm too slow!"_

Sasuke's breathing finally evened out as his frown grew into a wide smirk when he saw some of the lightning shards hit their mark.

Kenshi screamed out in pain and retreated behind a boulder for cover. _"At least I moved far enough that none of them hit a vital spot. Only a few hit, too." _His brown eyes widened once again when another chirping sound filled the area. Jumping up, his jaw dropped to the ground as the gigantic piece of rock shattered into a million pieces. His opponent flew past the rubble, Chidori still shining brightly. Kenshi was getting more frustrated by the second. When his feet touched the bark of a tree, he launched off of it, going straight for Sasuke.

Chidori disappeared and Sasuke calmly stood where he was, not looking like he was going to block at all.

Drawing his arm back getting ready to strike, Kenshi narrowed his eyes. _"What's this idiot doing, giving me a free shot?!"_ An audible gasp escaped him before he could stop it. A wall of black fire had appeared directly in front of Sasuke, right where Kenshi was heading. _"Blaze Release, too?!"_ Thinking urgently, the swordsman took out a kunai with a short string attached. Burying the handle deep into the ground behind him, he tugged on the string, causing him to change directions just before he hit the wall of fire.

"What's wrong Kenshi? Had enough?"

He rubbed his bloodly lip. "No, far from it."

Sasuke was going to retaliate, but stopped and twisted his head around when a booming sound was heard. "Sakura!"

Bang!

Kenshi cackled sadistically when his paper bombs went off, dust crowding the area.

Sasuke coughed as the air cleared. His arms and legs shook beneath him as he struggled to make it his feet. He could feel the blood flowing from his new wounds. His vision blurred for a few seconds, blood dripping into his eyes. He had taken a sharp hit from a piece of earth slightly above his forehead.

"Hahaha! Still worried about her are you?! You underestimate me quite a bit if you think that I'm done this early!"

Sasuke angrily lifted his gaze up to his attacker. _"I have to end this! I still have a bunch of chakra. Hn, I think now is the time to put this to the test. I've copied all sorts of moves from all the chakra natures..."_

Kenshi looked to be ready for anything. _"Kurushimi told me about him having all of the chakra natures. He's probably about to use some moves that he's copied. This is where things start to get serious..."_

* * *

Sakura let the woman fall to the ground. _"That was way too easy..."_

Looking over her small, minor wounds took only a second. She tried to catch her breath as she stared at the last enemy left standing. It was the one who had cast the jutsu that imprisoned them inside this block of earth. The male was her height and size with long, wavy, jet black hair. He opened his eyes and released the hand seal, but nothing else changed.

"Looks like I'm the only one left."

Sakura stood up and repositioned herself so that she was aware of everything happening in front of her.

He chuckled. "You definitely are strong, I'll give you that. Nonetheless, you don't stand a chance against me."

She raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

He chuckled again. "While you were busy with the others, I was infusing chakra with this entire block of earth. I know wherever you are at any time."

Sakura was confused. "That sounds like a waste of time to me. What's the use if both of us can still see each other with our eyes?"

"That's exactly my point." He glanced at the lit fires around them. "You fight well with the light, but can you see in the dark?"

After the words left his mouth, he extinguished the fires one by one. Sakura didn't have time to react because he put each one out at a fast rate. Not long after, she was surrounded by complete and total darkness. She exhaled sharply as she was hit by a combination of punches and kicks. She slammed into the ground and struggled to get up, dazed by the sudden attack.

A few seconds after she had managed to get back on her feet, he attacked once again. For the second time, she collapsed and winced in pain. He had used weapons this time, leaving cuts all over her body. When she got up again, Sakura hopped off of the ground and landed on one of the walls. This time, the wait was longer before she was met with more attacks. Falling down and landing on her feet, she stumbled across the flat terrain.

Shaking her head to try and focus, she thought to herself, _"He really does know where I am at all times. But, that last attack..."_

Footsteps interrupted her thoughts and she threw a chakra filled punch in the direction of the sound. Missing, the enemy took the opportunity to punch her stomach and perform a leg sweep. He retreated and she was left on the ground, panting and thinking of a plan.

_"I think that I've come up with something. Just to test it out though..."_

Waiting after his next ambush, she jumped as high as she possibly could into the air. No footstep, punch, kick, or slice of a weapon gliding through the air was heard.

Sakura smirked._ "Just as I thought!"_

Her feet hit the ground and a wave of confidence surged through her. He still did not attack after she had landed. Waiting for a short time, she silently listened. A footstep from behind and she stood there until the very last moment possible. Flipping into the air, Sakura flung a paper bomb to where she had been standing. It exploded and she heard his body hit the ground a short distance away. Her hand locked around his wrist before he could escape.

He was shocked. "How did you-?!"

"You leave a space of exactly ten seconds in between the time that you attack. I figured that out after only a couple of ambushes. Then, when I landed on one of the walls, it messed up your timing so you waited ten more seconds to strike. I wanted to make sure, so I jumped into the air after that. It proved me right. I didn't only figure that out though. I wondered why you didn't attack while I was in the air. It's because you can't 'see' me in the air. This jutsu is designed so that you can sense the person's chakra when they're touching the ground or any of the walls. Not while the person is in the air..."

She heard him gasp loudly. Even he knew that he was done for. She drew back her fist and punched him with full force, sending him into one of the walls. The man's body hit the ground and she drew back her fist once more. This time, Sakura was going to hit the wall to make an exit from the block of earth. Getting a good start, she ran at top speed towards the spot where the man had hit the wall. The fist connected with earth, shattering a large hole through it.

Breathing heavily, she sauntered through the hole and plopped down next to it. A rumbling sound made her turn her head back to the prison. It collapsed and buried whoever was inside. She waved away the dust and began to heal herself.

Getting up after she was done, Sakura looked around for any sign of Sasuke. Only small traces of his battle with Kenshi could be seen, so she ran and followed the trail.

* * *

Sasuke twisted his head around when another crashing sound came from where Sakura was. A mistake. Kenshi took the opportunity to send a hail storm of shuriken after him. The Uchiha grunted when most hit him. Quickly taking them out, he still wondered about Sakura's safety.

Both men were a mess and so was the environment around them. They were bloody and battered, tired and panting. Trees were burnt and twisted, rocks and boulders cracked or destroyed.

Kenshi had made sure to keep Sasuke from using his Susanoo. At the same time, he had to dodge or block most of the Uchiha's attacks. Sasuke had used up a lot of chakra by doing a bunch of ninjutsu he had copied, but one time, he had gotten another opportunity to steal Kenshi's chakra, and he didn't let it go to waste. Both had gotten some critical hits on the other, whether it was taijutsu, ninjutsu, or even with their weapons.

Sasuke had pulled all of the shuriken out of his body. He looked around and made his way through the the trees once again, trying to get some distance. To his dismay, Kenshi was still close behind. _"Hn, fine. I guess I'll just have to come up with something else..."_

Sasuke slowed down so that him and Kenshi were right beside each other, matching speed. The Uchiha pulled his sleeve up and put his hand on one of his armbands. Two giant shuriken with strings attached appeared with a puff of smoke. As they were thrown, Kenshi dodged both easily. The first shuriken was pulled back and once again, he dodged effortlessly.

_"Ha! Does he think that he can fool me with a simple trick like that?"_ Time seemed to go in slow motion as he twisted to escape the second one. At the last moment, Kenshi's eyes shifted from Sasuke's dojutsu to the huge smirk that had formed on his face. For a split second, a sliver of light hit a third piece of string in his mouth. The male's jaw dropped as he fully turned around, escaping the second. Sure enough, a third had formed out of nowhere, but there was no time to dodge it. He cried out in pain and crashed into the ground, dirt flying everywhere. Struggling to pull the weapon out of his chest, Kenshi gritted his teeth and groaned.

Standing up slowly after he had extracted the shuriken, he huffed when he saw something that nearly made him think he was crazy. A few feet in front of him stood, himself?! Leaning on a tree for support, he attempted to grab a weapon, but discovered that almost his entire body was paralyzed. _"What is this?!"_

The other Kenshi advanced and threateningly held his katana out. The real one's heart thumped out of his chest. After another moment of the fake taunting him, he began to stab the paralyzed one. It had been nearly ten new wounds to count before the real Kenshi straightened his thoughts. _"This has to be a genjutsu! I have to release it now, I can't take anymore!"_

With this, he forced his hands together in a hand sign. "Release."

The other disappeared and he breathed at a rapid pace. Squinting with his brown eyes, the swordsman surveyed his surroundings. _"Where did Sasuke go? Wait, that was definitely a genjutsu. He was using it as a distraction so that he could-!"_

Before he could even finish his inner thought, his prediction was proven true. A purple fist came from behind, almost smashing him flat. Kenshi barely got out of the way in time. He winced in pain when he landed on the ground._ "No! I was trying to stop him from using Susanoo this whole time!"_

As the messy haired male cursed himself, Sasuke gritted his teeth and Susanoo swung the large purple sword. Once again, his opponent barely dodged. However, this time he hadn't gotten away without a scratch. Kenshi cried out as blood dripped down his arm. Before Sasuke could go for another swing, he retreated through the trees once more. The Uchiha stayed close behind with a purple rib cage covering him. He had let part of his protection disappear, deciding that it would only be a burden.

Their chase went on for a few more minutes. Both were exhausted, but neither looked ready to give.

Sasuke let his eyes widen and another smirk crept its way onto his lips. He stopped and dropped to the ground, part of Susanoo still there.

Kenshi slowed down and looked back in confusion. _"What is he doing?!"_

A battle cry was heard and the terrified male twisted his head around, only to be met by a fist to the nose. He was blasted back towards the Uchiha's direction. Sasuke caught the man's body with Susanoo and slammed him into the ground. The critically injured male coughed up blood and was motionless under the purple hand.

"Nice hit," Sasuke panted as Sakura walked over.

"Thanks," she gasped out.

They both looked down at their defeated enemy.

"Before I kill you," Sasuke started, "I want to know where Kurushimi's hideout is."

A strained chuckle. The pair standing narrowed their eyes as they continued to look down at him. "So you think that you've actually beat me?"

They shared a quick glance.

Kenshi squeezed his eyes shut and was silent.

Sasuke and Sakura made their way closer so that they stood right above him on either side, the Susanoo still in place.

"I've got news for you." He opened his eyes. "The battle has just begun!"

The pair gasped when they saw that the eyes were exactly the same as Kurushimi's. The next instant, both grabbed theirs and held on. Sasuke knew the sensation. All of their memories were coming back to them in a split second. After it was over, they stood still and panted, sweat shining.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted.

His eyes flew open and he gasped when he saw what was wrong. Kenshi turned a light shade of blue and pieces of his body came off and flew with the wind. Even his blood and weapons did the same. Before long, the blue pieces completely disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

"A clone?" Sakura asked in disbelief.

He slowly shook his head. "No, there's no way. Clones usually disappear after a hit or two. I hit him several times and saw real blood. Even that's gone, too."

They looked in every direction to see if they could pick up any sign of their enemy. Nothing.

Sasuke tried to see if anything from their fight would explain what just happened. _"It definitely wasn't a clone. But, how then? I had... I... Had..."_

His eyes slowly shut and he collapsed to the ground.

Sakura watched in horror. "Sasuke?!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** I apologize if this chapter seemed too rushed. As I said in the first note, I haven't had much time to edit recently. I will have much more time to edit now that I've gotten all the big loads of schoolwork out of the way. Only two more weeks until summer. Also, I'll definitely explain what all this "Kenshi disintegrating" stuff is about. That and a ton of other stuff will be explained later. Just be patient with me. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites!


	17. Does It Have To Be Weird?

**Author's Note: **This chapter has some Road to Ninja references in it. Just a little heads up.

I just published the first chapter of my post 700 story!

Enjoy!

* * *

Kurushimi released the jutsu and slowly put his hands down, lifting his gaze to the ceiling.

Kenshi on the other hand was holding onto the sides of his chair, sweating and panting.

The other male turned his gaze towards his friend. "All of that went according to plan," he announced.

Kenshi wiped the sweat off of his brow. "When you said that I'd be a LITTLE exhausted when I was brought out of that jutsu, I thought you actually meant a little."

He shrugged innocently. "All I do is perform it and I rarely do that jutsu. Anyway, I have a new collection of memories stored. We also have a new expectation of their actions and skills."

"How many days did we hold that? I'm starving!"

A sigh. "About three, give or take."

They sat in silence for the next couple of minutes. Kurushimi was reminiscing over ideas he came up with because of the new memories. Kenshi was wondering if he could really take everyone on the next time he saw them.

"I can't wait until they find us, that way I can really have some fun," Kurushimi said, breaking the silence.

His friend did not respond, only giving him a short glance.

A chuckle. "What's even better is that I can cause them much more pain from using some of these memories."

No reply.

"I especially can't wait to mess with Sasuke. Taking the ones he cares about away from him."

Kenshi nearly fell over from how fast he had stood up, still tired from the jutsu. "Yeah, sure..."

He exited the room and Kurushimi sat where he had been, visibly bewildered by his friend's actions._ "What's up with Kenshi lately? He's never hesitated to hurt or kill someone before. Hm... Must be under the weather or something. Oh well... I have plans that need to be made for Sasuke and his friends."_

* * *

Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, squinting from the blinding sunlight. Turning his head away from it, he heard someone sigh in relief.

"You said that you weren't going to do something stupid," Sakura scolded.

He smirked weakly. "And I didn't."

"Oh really?" She poked the bandage she had wrapped around his head. "How did this happen? You're too careful to get a wound like that."

Sasuke sat up slowly and rested his bare back against the tree they were under. "I made a careless mistake. Everyone does it at least once."

While she rolled her eyes out of irritation and started to scold him again, Sasuke looked down at his bare chest. His shirt had been removed and most of his upper body was covered in bandages. Part of his right arm had been wrapped in one that was particularly tight. That was the place where Kenshi, or whatever that "thing" was, had stabbed him with a kunai.

"You've been unconscious for almost a whole day!" Sakura said, finishing her rant.

The Uchiha tilted his head her way. He put a hand where the bandage on his head rested. It was blocking his bangs from being in their usual place and he was beginning to get annoyed by it.

"When can I take all of these off?" he asked, referring to the bandages.

"Tomorrow morning," she replied.

He huffed and stretched, wincing from the pain in his covered wounds. "Did anyone show up while I was unconscious?"

She shook her head. "No, I don't think that we'll be attacked again anytime soon. That whole fight was weird."

"Hn," he agreed, "and what was that whole Kenshi basically disintegrating thing about? Not only that, but why did we see Kurushimi's eyes?"

"I don't understand anything that happened yesterday. Also, my opponents were, well, really weak. The most trouble I had was with the one who made that earth prison. He wasn't that much of a challenge to be honest."

Sasuke squinted out of curiosity. He remembered how Sakura had easily defeated their first enemy. If all of them had really been that inexperienced, then what was the purpose of the whole ambush? His breathing halted as another event crossed his mind again.

Sakura twisted her head when Sasuke attempted to stand. "You need to rest."

"Sakura, do you remember when we saw Kurushimi's eyes?"

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"You saw your memories didn't you?"

Another slow nod.

"Our memories were copied."

Sakura's mouth gaped slightly. "I wondered about that but I wasn't sure. What do you think they want with them?"

He didn't answer. Why did they want their memories? "We can think about that later. Right now we need to leave and head to the location where we're supposed to meet up with the others."

"You shouldn't move too much. Please rest."

He huffed in annoyance. "I don't have time for this."

"Would you rather injure yourself further?"

"Sakura, don't do this again."

Giving him a concerned look, she sighed. "Fine, but we're walking."

After this, Sasuke put a shirt on and they began traveling.

* * *

Kenshi sat on his bed and daydreamed, a frown on his face.

_"What if I can't beat them for real next time? Kurushimi said the jutsu he used wouldn't allow me to have a complete sense of my abilities, but..."_

The male gave a low growl. He grabbed a nearby kunai and threw it into the nearest breakable item he could find. It shattered and pieces flew in all directions, making small clinking noises as they hit the ground.

_"Is he expecting me to do all the work?! I thought that we were friends! Then why is he so secretive?! He tells me that he trusts me, but he hasn't told me anything about our true plan! After all we've been through..."_

He let out a long sigh.

_"What am I even doing anyway? This feels like a huge waste of time. Well... No, it isn't a waste. Uchiha deserves to suffer for all that he's done. But... None of it really connects to what happened to me and Kurushimi."_

His frown grew wider the longer he thought.

_"I shouldn't doubt Kurushimi's judgement. Oh well, I'm just going along with whatever he does. Hm..."_

Kenshi's expression switched to one that was impossible to decipher.

_"I'm curious about Sasuke and Sakura. They seemed a lot like me and her."_

The corners of his mouth twitched upward to form a small smile. Glancing around the room, his eyes landed on a framed photo of him with _her_. His smile grew larger at the thought of when the picture had been taken. It had been made when they were only about ten years old.

_"I remember framing that myself. I made sure that it looked perfect."_

He was mesmerized by the sight of the photo. It brought back so many memories. Memories... The screams and yells of everyone entered his mind for the billionth time. He clenched his fists as he saw the red eyes again. Gritting his teeth, Kenshi remembered his own terrified expression.

_"Why?! Why did that have to happen?!"_

* * *

Sakura placed her sleeping bag on top of a small patch of soft dirt. Yawning, she noticed that crickets began to chirp quietly. Sasuke had refused to take another early rest and they had traveled until almost midnight.

"We're behind where we planned to be," he said, clearly irritated.

"Sorry, but you can't go on like everything is normal. You're hurt and I don't want you to further injure yourself."

He glared and sat his things down on a tree stump. "I'm fine and I can keep going."

"Well, I'm not like you and I'm very tired."

Glancing at his teammate, Sasuke realized just how exhausted Sakura was.

"How badly was I injured?" he asked.

"It took awhile for me to heal you."

His lips separated slightly. _"I shouldn't be asking her to do this. She's fatigued from healing me and herself."_

Sakura sat down and rubbed her drooping eyes. To her bewilderment, Sasuke made his way towards the other member of Team 7 and stopped standing directly in front of her. The pink haired kunoichi turned a light shade of red when her partner sat down beside her.

He smirked when the coloring disappeared from her features. "What?"

She scratched her head nervously. "Nothing, I just... It's unusual for you..."

"What would it take to make it usual?"

She blushed again and turned away.

His smirk returned and his hand unconsciously began to move. Ever so slowly, it inched towards her hand. When he finally noticed, he halted his movement.

_"I should stop, but... I don't want to."_

This time, he was aware of his hand moving. Sasuke repeatedly glanced at Sakura to check if she had noticed. Seeing that she hadn't, he did not hesitate anymore.

They both tensed when the contact came, but neither pulled away. She turned her head back around to face him, clearly shocked. He was unfaltered and his expression remained calm as he watched her look at their hands. His big and calloused one was set on top of her small and soft one.

"Sakura?"

Shakily, she tilted her head up to meet his gaze.

"I don't want _this_ to be weird."

Her expression softened and she calmed. "I don't want it to be weird either."

Before long, their hands were completely entwined.

Sakura did not know what to make of the situation. _"What does he mean by, this? Are we friends or, more?"_

She would've thought longer on the matter, but exhaustion got the best of her. Her head leaned against his shoulder and she was out like a light.

Sasuke watched her sleeping form for the next few minutes before he cautiously removed his hand from hers. Instead of completely withdrawing, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tugged her closer, careful not to wake her.

In truth, he didn't know why he had wanted to do any of this. A sudden urge had just popped into his head and he let it take control.

_"Sakura, you're really annoying,"_ Sasuke thought, smirking widely. _"But, I like it when this isn't weird. I actually feel like... Like we're real friends."_

He nearly smiled. To use the word "friend" was very rare for him. In all honesty, it felt really good to at least think about it. Him and Naruto are best friends, but there is no chance in heck that you will ever hear Sasuke say that. Sakura though? She was different. He still would not say it, pride getting in the way. However, he willingly thought about it and he often wanted to think that they were good friends.

Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes. _"I shouldn't be allowed to be your friend. I want to though. You've forgiven me, but..."_

An inward sigh. He took another glance at Sakura. The glance turned into a stare. She looked so vulnerable while she was asleep. At the same time, she was beautiful.

_"Every time I'm around you, I get this feeling. Those signs you told me about, they were all true. Maybe I really do love you in this way."_

Over the next few moments, he wondered if what he felt was really love. A sudden realization hit him hard.

_"It doesn't matter if I love you like that. I don't deserve you and I never will. I still don't understand why you love someone like me. You can have someone that's a lot better than I am. After all... All I've done is hurt you. I just want you to be happy."_

He clenched his fists as the memories came back to haunt him again. Every single instant that he had caused her pain, every moment he had seen her cry because of him, every time she had confessed her love for him crawled back into the front of his mind.

_"Sakura, I'm so sorry... I will NEVER forgive myself..."_

Shortly after, he fell asleep. Once more for the second time, he did not have a nightmare.

* * *

He held a wound on his side as he crawled over to her.

They had been ambushed a few days ago and seriously injured in the process. She had still not woken up and he was beginning to think that his worst fear had come true. The male's vision was blurring. He had taken the action of wrapping both of their many wounds, but if they did not get medical attention from someone more experienced, then they would both die soon.

_"We have to go... Quick..." _he thought to himself.

He felt around on the ground for a scroll in the blackness of the night. Then, he attempted to find something to draw with.

* * *

Sakura woke up to find Sasuke with his arms around her again. Just like the previous time, he was watching her.

"Morning," she muttered sleepily.

"Hn. Can I take these bandages off now?"

She nodded and he shuffled away from their resting place, pulling off his shirt. Sakura quickly turned her head, resisting the urge to stare at his well-toned body.

Sasuke had immediately noticed her embarrassment and a wide smirk settled on his face. He wanted to tease her, but decided to spare her this time.

"We're still not traveling any faster," she said with her head still tilted away.

He gasped, putting on another shirt and unraveling the last bandage. "Sakura, I'm fine."

"I'm not taking any risks."

"We're taking more of a risk by staying out here longer. I've already said that we've fallen behind schedule."

"I know, but what if we are attacked again? You can't be injured and fight like you did yesterday."

"You underestimate me," he scoffed, fuming.

"Well I'm sorry for caring about your health!" she shouted, standing up and stomping off.

He watched her and frowned. Grabbing the dark blue piece of material and tying it around his head, Sasuke considered whether or not he should go after her. In the end, he decided to stay put.

* * *

For the entire day, they had traveled in silence and it almost seemed like they ignored the other's presence. Now, it was very late at night.

"We should stop here," Sakura said, suddenly acknowledging him.

"We're too far behind."

"We can make up for it later. Right now we have to get some rest."

He huffed and kept his resistance. An idea popped into his head.

Sakura stared on in curiousity as Sasuke bit his thumb strong enough to make it bleed. He weaved his hands through many hand signs and slammed his palm into the ground. A puff of smoke and a giant hawk stood in front of them.

"Sasuke," the hawk greeted.

"Daisuke," the Uchiha responded, addressing the summoning animal.

Sakura closed her gaping mouth, gathering her thoughts. "Kakashi sensei said that we shouldn't fly."

He glanced back at his partner. "He said not to search in the air. He never said anything about flying on the way back."

She sighed and rubbed her hands together worriedly.

"I won't let anything happen to us. I promise," Sasuke reassured.

The hawk named Daisuke raised an eyebrow as he scanned the scene.

"I'll be right back," Sakura spoke up, excusing herself.

After she had furthered her distance from them, Daisuke raised a wing to cover his words. The hawk was not very young, nor very old. He sounded to be around Sasuke's age, or that old in hawk years.

"Hey Sasuke, is this the girl you're always talking about?"

The Uchiha glared at the hawk from the corner of his eye. "I'm not always talking about her, but yes. I speak about Sakura sometimes."

Daisuke chuckled. "Sometimes huh? Whatever you say. You know, she is pretty attractive. Nothing's going on then?"

Sasuke exhaled loudly. "Even a summoning animal is asking me that."

"So I'm not the only one that's curious?"

He angrily replied, "You've known her about five seconds and you're already assuming things!?"

Before Daisuke could retort, Sakura had made her way back to them. Giving the pair a questioning look, she watched as they awkwardly shuffled around, attempting to appear as if everything were normal.

Daisuke had mischievous ideas going through his head, but he decided that he should be loyal to his master.

Sasuke jumped on top of the hawk and sat down. "Are you coming?"

Slowly, Sakura began to move. Sasuke helped her up and gave Daisuke directions and a summary of their current situation.

They were flying low in case there was any chance that the enemy was around their location. No one spoke and all they could hear in the dark of night was the whistle of the wind.

Almost an hour or so after they had started flying, Sasuke had a sudden wave of concern rush through him. He twisted his head around to check on his teammate. Reassurance and another feeling came over him when he saw her sitting directly behind him, staring into space.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"Hm?" Her head jerked towards his direction. "Oh, yeah. I'm just tired is all."

"Hn..."

Daisuke cocked his head to the side. "Can you two start an actual conversation? If it's silent for another hour then I might fall asleep and crash into something."

Sasuke rolled his mismatched eyes, cursing the hawk. He thought that he had only said that to make them become "closer" to each other. Apparently, that's all anyone cared about when they saw the two around one another.

Sakura nervously glanced at the annoyed male sitting in front of her. She scratched her head and hesitantly started a conversation. "Did I ever tell you about that time when Naruto and I got sucked into an alternate universe?"

Sasuke's attention peaked. "Alternate universe?"

Daisuke intently listened in to the brewing conversation. The mention of an alternate universe intrigued him as much as it did his master.

She grinned and went into detail with the story. Her teammate paid attention to every word. The hawk concentrated as hard as Sasuke to hear the story.

"... And everyone's personalities were the complete opposite. Naruto's parents were there and you were, too."

"I was there?" he asked with an indifferent tone. In truth, he was still very interested.

"Yeah. Your personality was switched, too."

"How so?"

She turned red and turned her gaze downward. "Well... You were a player, I guess you could say."

She caught a glimpse of him raising his eyebrows in confusion and explained further. "It means that you were flirting with pretty much every girl in the village. Including me."

Sasuke's cheeks warmed as he pivoted his head to observe the ground below.

Daisuke suppressed a laugh._ "It was definitely an alternate universe if Sasuke was acting like that."_

Sakura continued the story. She had gotten all the way to the part where the Akatsuki had come to help.

"So every member of the Akatsuki was alive in that universe and they were allies to the village?"

"That's right. After that, Naruto freed me and Itachi was in charge of guarding me."

"Itachi?" He nearly fell off of the hawk because of how fast he twisted his head around.

She nodded and went on.

Sasuke was extremely irritated when he heard about his older brother "holding" her. The disgruntled Uchiha needed answers and he needed them now.

"So Itachi grabbed you?!"

Sakura jolted by his outburst. "He was trying to keep me out of danger."

He had ignored her argument. "Then he picked you up?!"

The kunoichi was hopelessly confused. "Well, yeah. If he didn't then Deidara would've hit both of us."

Before Sasuke could confront her again, Daisuke made a loud noise, almost sounding like he was clearing his throat. Sasuke angrily turned to face the front, taking the hawk's warning.

_"I'll reanimate Itachi so I can kill him again! I don't care if it was an alternate universe!" _he furiously thought.

"Weasel," Sasuke grumbled to himself, not knowing that he had said anything aloud.

"What?" Sakura spoke up.

He didn't know what had happened at first. When he realized, he racked his brain trying to come up with an excuse. "Uh, weasel. I thought I saw a weasel."

Daisuke shook his head and sighed._ "Smooth one Sasuke..."_

After an awkward pause, Sakura finished the tale. By the end of it, Sasuke was still feeling livid towards his older brother.

"Sasuke, are you okay?"

He attempted to make his facial features look neutral. "I'm just thinking about the battle yesterday," he lied.

It was probably past two in the morning by now.

She yawned. "We shouldn't worry about that right now." Another yawn.

Without turning, Sasuke reached behind him and grabbed both of her wrists, wrapping them around his waist. "You don't have to ask me you know. Get some rest."

She was reluctant at first. Then, she slowly let her head come to rest on his shoulder. He let go of her wrists when she crossed her arms around him. Only a few minutes after, he heard the rhythmic breathing that meant she was asleep.

Daisuke chuckled quietly. "I thought I saw a weasel," he mocked.

The Uchiha rolled his mismatched eyes as the hawk continued.

"That sounded a little bit like jealousy to me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he replied softly, trying not to wake his teammate.

"Whatever you say. I don't feel like arguing with you. I will say this though. Don't wait until it's too late."

After this, they did not speak for awhile. Sasuke placed a hand on top of Sakura's during this time, gently rubbing his thumb over them. He watched her moving up and down with each breath she took. She looked so vulnerable in this state, which made him want to protect her from all possible harm. If there was anyone that didn't deserve to get hurt, it was definitely her. In his eyes, she could do no wrong.

He removed his hand and gave her one last glance before turning to face the front. Narrowing his eyes, he thought, _"I don't want anything to happen to you because of me again..."_

* * *

Sakura woke up to see that she was in the exact same position that she was in when she fell asleep. They were still flying, Daisuke looking fully aware. Looking to the side, she saw Sasuke awake, half closed eyes.

"What time is it?" she inquired groggily.

"Almost time for sunrise," he answered sleepily. "Have a nice nap?" he added.

She grinned. "I did. It's obvious that you haven't slept."

"Hn, I'm alright."

She wasn't in the mood to bicker, so she kept her silence.

"Sakura, I try not to dwell on the past so much, but I can't help it."

"I do that sometimes, too."

"The reason I mentioned it is because I want to tell you something."

She untangled her arms from around his waist, her head still resting on his shoulder.

"You know back then how me and Naruto would get into fights? Not just simple quarrels either?"

She nodded hesitantly, confused as to where the conversation was headed.

"I've wanted to tell you that I think you're the only thing that kept Team 7 together for so long. Not even Kakashi influenced me as much as you did."

She turned red and gasped. "Me?"

"Who else could I be talking to or about?" he spat harshly.

She frowned at his scolding.

He huffed. "I'm sorry. I'm tired and frustrated. I have no reason whatsoever to be upset with you."

A long pause.

Daisuke had soundlessly listened in on their entire conversation. Sasuke had spoken a lot about this girl. Obviously, the Uchiha was hopelessly trying to figure out his feelings towards her. The hawk sorrowfully thought about one night when Sasuke had summoned him for help catching some criminals. The male had fallen into a restless slumber and uttered the girl's name every few minutes. After countless hours of traveling, he had shot up and screamed her name. The hawk had not asked any questions to his master, seeing as how sensitive he was when it came to the woman by the name of Sakura Haruno. His thoughts were interrupted when the pair continued.

"Sasuke, do you ever wish that you could go back to those days?" She smiled. "I mean, it feels like just yesterday we were made genin and here we are now. We recently became adults and some of us are married."

He thought long and hard about this question. His voice came out as a low whisper. "I left everything behind on that night, the night I left. If I could go back and change all of it, then I'd take that opportunity."

Sakura's smile morphed into a frown. "Well... I wish that I could've stopped you. Almost everyday after that, I blamed myself for what happened."

He shook his head and twisted it to face hers. "Nothing that happened was your fault. And, you almost did make me stay. It was when you told me that you..." he trailed off. There was no way he could gain the confidence to complete the sentence. The truth was, when she had confessed that she loved him, he nearly forgot all about his revenge.

He finally got the guts to speak again. "It wasn't just then, but the second time, too."

Her lips were seperated and she stared in awe at him. "Why?"

Sasuke's heart began to thump violently. "I don't know."

He clenched a handful of his shirt as the thumping continued. The many thoughts of his feelings came back simultaneously. It was all too much for him to handle. His breathing stopped when Sakura placed her hand on the side of his face.

"Are you sure you're fine?" she asked worriedly.

His thoughts were jumbled up and he couldn't think straight. However, something else took over. His hand unconsciously moved to rest on the side of her face. All they could do was sit still and stare into the other's eyes. Sakura was too shocked at his sudden movment. Sasuke didn't know what he was doing, but there was no stopping it.

An amused Daisuke watched the situation from the corner of his eye.

Sasuke moved his other hand to the opposite side of her face. "Does this have to be weird?"

No more words were needed. They slowly pulled each other in, but before their lips could meet, Daisuke gasped.

The pair quickly removed their hands and revolved around to look behind them. They copied the hawk and exhaled sharply.

"SAKURA! SASUKE!"

"Sai?!" Sakura half whispered, half shouted.

Sasuke's mouth was hanging open slightly. Sai looked desperate, bruised, bloody, and battered. The Uchiha turned his gaze to behind the former ANBU. He heard Sakura's breathing hitch when she saw the sight. Ino Yamanaka was lying on the back of the ink bird, appearing to be in the same condition as her boyfriend, only she had her eyes closed and was motionless.

Sakura put a hand over her mouth as tears began to spill from her emerald eyes.

* * *

**Author's Note: **The first chapter of my post 700 story is out if any of you want to read it!Hope you enjoyed!


	18. Questioned Again

**Author's Note: **Last week was probably my best week. I'm really surprised that I got so many follows and things like that. Especially with my new story. There is a progress update on that at the end of this chapter, too. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

Sasuke motioned for Daisuke to turn. The hawk immediately accepted the command and both birds slanted to the ground.

The Uchiha thanked Daisuke and the summoning was released. The hawk nodded and was gone with a puff of smoke.

Sai stayed where he was atop his ink bird. He worriedly looked at Ino's lifeless body.

Sakura was frozen in place at the sight of her comrades, especially her best friend. Sasuke had to shake the Haruno's shoulders, making her snap out of the trance.

Sai weakly crawled to Ino and helped Sasuke pull her down.

"She's still alive," the Uchiha stated urgently as her set her on the ground.

Sakura went to work on the severely injured Yamanaka at once. A relieved feeling rushed through her when Sasuke announced that they still had a chance, but she needed to concentrate right now.

Grunting in pain, Sai attempted to get off of his ink bird. The instant he stepped off, he toppled over.

Sasuke caught the former ANBU before he hit the ground. Slinging one of his arms around the Uchiha's shoulder, they slowly made their way to a nearby rock.

"What happened?"

The pale shinobi squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth. "We were attacked," he managed to croak out.

They reached their destination and the male in intense agony sat down clumsily, resting his back against the rock.

"By who?"

Sai bit his lower lip so hard that a trickle of blood rolled down his chin. The Uchiha had never seen him so livid. "That swordsman that you told us about. Kenshi."

Sasuke barely suppressed a gasp, his eyes widening to the point that it hurt. _"They fought Kenshi, too?!"_

He glanced back at Sakura who seemed not to have heard anything. She was intently focused on healing Ino. His head whipped back around when Sai had a coughing fit.

"Don't do anything about me until you make sure that Ino is alright. I can last."

Reluctantly, Sasuke nodded and the hurt male leaned his head back, trying to get some rest.

The last Uchiha walked to stand beside the two kunoichi. He patiently watched as Sakura healed the blonde woman, trying to comprehend what Sai had just told him. Was it really possible that they weren't the only ones that had battled against Kenshi? He didn't completely deny the thought, considering the fact that the one they had fought wasn't the real Kenshi. Or was it? At the moment, there was no way to put the puzzle together, so he returned his mind back to reality.

"I've mended the most major wounds," Sakura announced. "What about Sai?"

He took a short glance at the exhausted male. "He told me not to worry about him until we made sure that Ino was fine."

Sakura frowned and worriedly turned her head around. She almost looked like she was about to cry from seeing their hurt teammate again.

Sasuke put a hand on her shoulder as she directed her attention to him. "Sakura, you're not alone. I'm here to help you."

She only stared, so he continued.

"Keep your focus on helping Ino. If something serious happens with him, then I'll tell you. I can handle anything minor. If you need help, then ask me. I'm here for you."

She smiled and a single tear rolled down her cheek. "Thank you Sasuke."

"Hn."

As she turned her attention back to her work, he stood up, ready to do his part of the job. He heard a pained sob and he worriedly looked back at Sakura. He frowned as he saw her staring at her hands, tears falling once again.

"W-Why now?" she whimpered.

At first, he didn't know what was wrong. The more he thought about it, he figured out exactly what had happened. _"She hasn't fully recovered from healing the both of us. This is all my fault. If I had beaten him earlier. No, if I had paid attention then this wouldn't have happened!" _

"I'm supposed to be the best medic in the village... Yeah right... I can't do this... How could I be this weak?"

"It's my fault Sakura."

She withdrew her hands and cried even more. She did her best to wipe the tears away, but had no luck. Sasuke cursed himself for making her cry. Kneeling next to her, he watched Ino's lifeless body, thinking of a plan. How could he possibly be of help in this situation? He had no clue how to use medical ninjutsu.

"Is it possible that you can use my chakra?" he asked.

She gasped and stared at him. He held out his hands and waited. Finally, she nodded and he placed them on top of hers. She flinched as their chakras connected. The sensation of all the chakra natures was overwhelming. When she regained her concentration, she heard Sasuke chuckle quietly.

"Even the most powerful people need help sometimes."

She grinned. "Apparently you never do."

"I never admit it, but I do need help sometimes."

She laughed. "So the great almighty Sasuke Uchiha actually does need help."

He smirked and watched their hands, chakra emitting a strong glow.

Sakura was surprised by how the natures felt. Lightning and Fire were the strongest, filling her with a strange warmth as they mixed. Sasuke also felt her chakra connecting with his. It was almost as if they were perfect together, like they melted into one another.

"Sakura, I'm sorry. If I had been more careful then you wouldn't have used up so much chakra."

"You better be. Your sorry butt would've died if I hadn't healed you."

He was happy to see that her mood had improved. Remembering what Sai had told him, he repeated it to Sakura. "Sai said that they fought Kenshi."

"What?!"

"I don't understand either. I haven't asked if he disappeared like the Kenshi we battled did."

She sighed and shook her head. "Well, he needs to take it easy right now. Do you think that you can help me heal him, too?"

He nodded and they continued to work on Ino. Minutes later, they heard a cough and the Yamanaka opened her eyes weakly.

"Ino!" Sakura shouted as she and Sasuke removed their hands.

"Sakura? Sasuke?"

"How are you feeling?"

"Like crap. Where's Sai? Is he okay?"

"He's over there. He's fine."

Ino exhaled sharply out of relief. Everyone turned their heads when they heard a surprised yelp. Sai was scrambling over to the group, almost looking as if he felt no pain whatsoever. He stopped right beside his girlfriend, panting.

"Ino, you're okay..."

She smiled. "I'm fine. You look kinda rough."

As the pair chatted, Sakura gave Sasuke a look that said "Give them some space". Silently, they moved away and allowed them to catch up.

The Haruno happily watched the couple. "I've never seen Sai show so much emotion in one day."

Sasuke peeked at the other two shinobi. His mouth dropped slightly when he noticed that Sai had a gigantic and authentic smile on his face. He remembered how angry and desperate the male had been when they first met up. What made him so emotional in such a short time?

"He really loves her," Sakura said, making him turn his head in surprise.

"Hm?"

"The only time I ever see Sai showing so much emotion is when he's around Ino."

He could only stare at his teammate. _"Only when he's around her? They love each other..."_

Sasuke slowly took the bandana off of his head. "Sakura, I think-"

"Sakura!"

They revolved around to see Sai waving them over, the huge smile still plastered on his face. Sasuke was disappointed when Sakura got up, making her way to the pair. He quickly followed, not wanting to be left out.

"Thank you Sakura!" Sai exclaimed happily.

She gasped as Ino spoke up.

"I'm the one that should be thanking Forehead."

Sakura laughed. "You're welcome Pig." She turned to Sai.

He interrupted before she could get out a single word. "Don't concern yourself with healing me right now."

"At least let me put on some clean bandages."

He nodded in agreement and they distanced themselves from Sasuke and Ino. The Uchiha watched as Sai took his shirt off and sat down.

"Hmph!" he grunted as he tilted his head away from the scene.

Ino curiously glanced at the upset male. She chuckled and grinned.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye. "What?"

"Jealous?"

He huffed and his face took on a red color. "No. Why do all of you keep pestering me about that?"

Ino rolled her eyes. "Because it's obvious."

Raising an eyebrow and frowning, Sasuke crossed his arms.

It was her turn to huff in annoyance. "Honestly, I didn't think that you're skull could be THAT thick!"

"Whatever," he muttered. Sighing, he remembered something important. "Did you beat Kenshi? If so, what happened when you did?"

She frowned. "Yes, we did beat him. But, he told us that the real fight was just beginning and we saw weird eyes. They looked like the ones that the man from the festival had. Anyway, after that he sort of disintegrated. Why do you ask?"

He looked far off into the distance. "The same thing happened to us."

Ino gasped, her jaw dropping.

"When did you encounter him?" he questioned.

"Um... The third day of the search."

He nodded slowly, studying the environment in the forest around them. His mismatched eyes observed every object. Something was incorrect. How was it remotely possible that Sai and Ino also had an encounter with one of their formidable enemies? The only thing that made it seem imaginable was the fact that both Kenshis had vanished from existence. Also, if they were not the only ones that had a match with the master swordsman, then did that mean everyone was attacked by him?

Deciding to let Ino rest, Sasuke stood up and traveled to where Sakura and Sai sat. She was finishing up and he put his top back on. The male thanked her and announced that he was going to get some rest and recover.

For a short time, Sasuke and Sakura sat next to each other, completely silent. Sakura was twirling her fingers around while Sasuke thought about what Ino had claimed. Another thought came to him when he turned his attention to the Haruno.

"I'm going to say something that a very good friend of mine always tells me," he said with a smirk.

She waited in curiousity.

"You need rest," he mocked.

Rolling her eyes, she punched his shoulder. "I hate to admit it, but you're right. I didn't know that I was THAT spent from healing the both of us. I just hope that Sai can last until I recover."

"Hn, I forgot that it's morning," he said, nodding towards the rising sun.

She watched the bright ball of light and smiled. "You didn't get to sleep last night."

"I'll keep watch while the rest of you recover."

Reluctantly, she agreed and left to get her sleeping bag.

Sasuke was met with solitude and silence. He cursed himself repeatedly for being so careless._ "If I had been focusing on Kenshi then I wouldn't have been badly injured! She exhausted herself from healing me! If someone had attacked again when I was unconscious, then she would've been defenseless!"_ He clenched his fists, making his knuckles white._ "If anyone had hurt her, I swear that I'd make them suffer a horrible and tragic death!"_ A large frown grew on his face at the thought of the enemy getting their hands on her. _"I won't let them take you away from me..."_

* * *

Sakura's eyes fluttered open at around noon. She surveyed her surroundings to note that everyone was still asleep, including a certain Uchiha. She smirked while she thought to herself, _"You're gonna keep watch, huh?" _Stretching and standing up, she quietly walked to where he sat. _"I'll wake him and tell him that I'll keep watch." _Stopping in front of him, she couldn't help but stare at the attractive male. _"He really does look cute when he's sleeping. I hate to wake him up, too. He gets little sleep as it is."_ Just when she was about to shake him awake, Sasuke rolled over, unconsciously flinging one of his arms out. This caused Sakura to retract her hand as he twisted and turned repeatedly.

"Sakura..." he muttered, muffled.

"Hm?" She let her arms fall to her sides. Apparently her friend was having a nightmare. She had overhead somebody claim that you shouldn't wake someone up during one, so she stood still.

"Sakura..." he said clearly.

Her jaw fell and she froze, bewildered. _"Why is he saying my name?"_

"No, stop!" he breathed louder.

Sakura fidgeted, struggling to resist the urge of waking him. _"Sasuke's having a nightmare about me?"_

He continued to toss and turn frequently. She saw him begin to sweat. For a moment, the Uchiha halted his movements entirely. Sakura breathed a short sigh of relief and concluded that she should wake him since he had stopped. Just as she had reached out, he slapped both of his hands over his ears and gritted his teeth.

"Don't do it! Don't hurt her!" he warned pleadingly.

Suppressing a gasp, Sakura bit her lower lip._ "Is he talking about me? Please wake up! I don't want to see you like this Sasuke!"_

Rolling over once more, the Uchiha removed his hands from his ears, instead gripping the ground below him. "Sakura, run! Get out of here!"

Her resistance was breaking at a massive rate. Watching her friend suffer was an enormous ordeal. Finally, the noises and squirming stopped once again. She waited to see if it would last and after about a minute, she slowly began to move towards him. The tip of her finger had just brushed his shirt when he shot up as quick as a flash. The startled Haruno was pinned against a tree and the male held both of her wrists against the hard bark.

"Who did it? Where are they?" he asked urgently.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about. Sasuke, please let me go..."

He was clearly confused until he twisted his head around, scanning their environment. He gasped when his onyx gaze landed on Ino and Sai. Turning his attention back to Sakura, he quickly released his grip on her and stumbled backwards.

"Sasuke?"

He held his hands out when she tiptoed forward. "Don't."

"I-I can help." She advanced once more, only to have him repeat his actions.

"Stay away."

Sakura didn't stop and a wave of fury erupted inside of him. "I said go away!"

She jolted when she noticed his right eye shift into a blood red. Forcing herself to retreat, Sakura quickly stumbled away.

Sasuke let his facial features relax as she left, his eye shifting back to its normal state. For some reason, his hand reached out to where she had gone, wanting her presence to return. However, he was to fast to withdraw and he sauntered off into the woods.

_"What's wrong with me? Why did I do that? I should go back and tell her that I didn't mean it."_ He jerked his head around, contemplating whether or not he should return. The instant his foot twitched, Sasuke slapped both of his hands over his mismatched eyes. His head was painfully throbbing and he was seeing double. Restraining a shout, the Uchiha fell into a tree and used it as support. Those eyes he had seen a handful of times now snaked their way into the front of his mind. Kurushimi's eyes had inhabited his nightmares just a few minutes ago. His head had throbbed a few times prior to this, when he had awoken from a nightmare. Never had it been this bad though.

* * *

Ino yawned and opened her eyes. Sai was sleeping a few feet away, looking to be undisturbed. She heard a crunching noise and attempted to sit up.

"You shouldn't be moving by yourself. Let me help," Sakura said shakily.

"Thanks," Ino replied as she got to a sitting position. "You look like you've just seen a ghost."

The Haruno shook her head. "Might as well have."

The Yamanaka frowned. "What happened?"

She tried to come up with a believable excuse, not wanting to talk about it. "I don't want to wake Sai."

A huff. "Then let's sit somewhere else. You know, you're a horrible liar."

Sakura knew she had been defeated. Ino slung an arm around her friend's shoulder and they distanced themselves from Sai.

"Where's Sasuke?" Ino questioned as they sat down.

Sakura did not reply, sadly shaking her head.

Ino frowned. "So that's the problem then? Well, men are just as complicated as women sometimes."

"I don't know what happened a few minutes ago. He got angry and..." She didn't know how to finish her explanation. Instead she put both of her hands out in front of her, staring at them. "I had to have help healing you."

"Yeah, I saw both of you over me when I woke up. What about it?"

"When we finished our fight, he was severely injured. I couldn't let him die... I wasn't thinking and I used way more chakra than I needed. That's why I couldn't heal you on my own."

Ino let a sorrowful expression cross her face as her best friend continued.

"I'll do anything if it means saving Sasuke's life. I love him too much to let him die."

Ino's frown morphed into a small smile as she glanced at her sleeping boyfriend. "I know what you mean. Being in love means that you'll do anything for the one you're attached to." A gasp escaped her lips before she could stop it. An idea had popped into her head and she wanted to put it to the test. Peeking at Sakura, she was glad that she had seemed not to notice her gasp. "Hey Sakura, do you think it would be okay if I just took a short walk? I'll be extra careful, I promise."

The pink haired kunoichi sighed. "Fine, but if you pass out or anything don't blame it on me."

The excited blonde nodded and stood up.

* * *

Sasuke splashed the cold river water onto his face and attempted to get his breathing steady. The painful throbbing in his head had finally subsided. Gazing down at his reflection, he cursed himself for the millionth time that day. The horrible dreams he had made him frustrated to the point that he had taken it out on his comrades. He inwardly sighed when he heard someone approaching.

"I want to be alone right now Sakura."

Sasuke was taken by surprise when the person kicked him in the back of the head, sending him flying into the river. Spitting out water and flinging his hair back, the startled Uchiha started to question his attacker. "Why di-?!" He gasped when he saw that the person was Ino, not Sakura.

"What is wrong with you Uchiha?!"

He growled as he pulled himself out of the river. "I could ask you the same thing."

She slapped his cheek and the male did his best to stay calm. He had no clue what was happening and he wanted to know now.

"Why'd you upset Sakura?! You're always such a jerk to her!"

He managed to hold his resistance, half agreeing with her claim. "It was an accident. And will you stop hitting me?"

The furious Yamanaka rolled her eyes. "An accident, huh? I don't know all of what happened but I do know that you hurt her."

"I know and I'm sorry."

"Tell her that, not me. Anyway, that's not what I came here to talk to you about."

He raised an eyebrow.

"What I really came here for was to know what your intentions are."

"My intentions about what?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."

He huffed and angrily replied, "Why do all of you keep bothering me about it?! I don't love her like that! You have your answer!"

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not!"

"Then look me in the eye and say that you don't feel that way about Sakura."

"This is pointless and a waste of time." Surpingly, he complied with her request. "I don't like her in that way."

She smirked. "You were looking at my forehead."

He quickly turned, hiding the red that appeared on his face. "No I wasn't."

"Sasuke, I've only ever seen you so defensive when it comes to Sakura. Now spill it."

"There's nothing to say."

"Ugh! Men are so dumb! Okay then, will you answer a few questions?"

"Depends," he spat back.

She ignored the venom in his voice, her focus on finishing her mission. "Would you do anything for her, even if it meant giving up your life?"

His expression softened. "Yes."

"Do you feel different around her?"

"Yes," he muttered again.

"Do you hate making her upset?"

"Yes. I don't see the point of this."

Groaning, the Yamanaka angrily stomped over to him, making him turn to face her. "The point of this is simple."

Silence.

"You are SO clueless Sasuke. Now I know without a single doubt. You are in love with her! Before you deny it again, I have one more question."

He waited.

"Has there been one moment besides the arena where you've wanted to kiss her?"

His hands began to shake. He convinced himself it was because he was getting cold what with him being soaked to the bone. "Yes," he whispered.

"There you have it!"

"No! You don't get it! It doesn't matter if I do feel the same. She deserves better and all I've ever done is hurt her."

"Do you ever think about what she wants? I can promise you that you're the only one she has ever wanted." He didn't have a response to this and Ino could tell that he was struggling. Sighing, she put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, if you really think that you don't have feelings for Sakura, then at least be nice to her."

He nodded and they headed back to camp.

* * *

"Do you know if these berries are poisonous?" Sai asked as he put a hand under his chin, curiously staring at the bush.

"Yes, very," Sakura replied before he could pick one.

Sai took out a small notebook and drew the berry, writing "poisonous" beside the sketch. "That's a good thing to know."

They tilted their heads to the side when Sasuke, drenched to the bone, and Ino made their way back into camp.

Sakura gasped and hesitated to speak. "Eh, Sasuke why-?"

"Don't ask."

She seemed to shrink after he replied. The kunoichi looked to be trembling as he sat down beside her.

"I'm sorry for going off on you. I'm more frustrated than usual."

"It's fine," she muttered. "I guess all of us have been that way recently..." She cleared her throat and looked at Sai. "Hey Sai, we should take care of your injuries."

"Of course," he responded.

Sasuke and Sakura put their hand together over Sai's back. Sakura did not flinch this time, instead finding the sensation of all the chakra natures soothing.

Ino silently watched the pair, smiling._ "Oh Sakura, I don't know how you can put up with a man as clueless as Sasuke. Well, about love that is. I can't believe I ever had a crush on that knucklehead."_

Minutes later, Sai was healed and everyone grabbed their things. Sasuke eventually agreed to put a dry pair of clothes on. All of the shinobi desperately desired to hear about each pair's search. After hearing that they had all fought Kenshi, they wanted to piece the puzzle together. In the end, they concluded that they should wait until they had met up with the others. What was the chance that every group had battled Kenshi? Sasuke thought about that possibility the whole time they continued the journey on two of Sai's ink birds. _"Kurushimi. Kenshi. We're going to defeat your army. Then, we're going to defeat you."_

* * *

**Author's Note: **School just got out so I will have more time to write and edit and all that. Well, thanks again for the follows, favorites, and reviews! They really help. Anyway, maybe Ino knocked some sense into Sasuke. Please review!

**OTHER UPDATES**

So I haven't started on the second chapter for Family Struggles because I didn't think it would be as popular as it is. Please don't be mad at me! I'll try and get that out by next week. I'm getting caught up on writing this story first.


	19. Confession?

**Author's Note: **This chapter is shorter than the usual length, but I didn't want to drag it out. Is this it? The moment we've all been waiting for? Does Sasuke confess? Enjoy!

* * *

Sasuke helped Sakura off of the ink bird.

It was the last day that they were given to reach the location where everyone would meet up. Sasuke had kept his word in saying that he hadn't upset Sakura since his previous episode. Honestly, he had set his mind on making sure not to frighten his friend even before Ino had said anything. It destroyed him inside whenever Sakura was not happy or at least in a decent mood, especially if it was his fault.

Now, the Uchiha's biggest struggle was the other thing that the Yamanaka had mentioned. Did he really have those kind of feelings for Sakura? All the signs pointed to yes, but it was still nearly impossible to believe. That was because romantic love was a completely unknown emotion for Sasuke.

"How close do you think we are to the meeting place?" Sakura asked the others.

"Not too far," Sai responded, taking out a map.

"We should be there in another hour or so," Ino added. "That is, if we only take a short break here."

Setting their things down, everyone ate lunch and chatted. Everyone except for Sasuke, who was sitting a good distance away from the other three. He had already finished his meal and he was momentarily enjoying the cool breeze passing through. The Uchiha's thoughts were constantly invaded by his feelings for Sakura. _"I guess that I do feel some sort of attraction towards Sakura. If everyone else thinks that I feel that way, then I must be..."_ Sasuke sighed and glanced back at his comrades. _"I know that I don't deserve her, but Ino was right. Sakura's always going to love me, no matter what I say or do. And, if I actually do feel the same way, then wouldn't that make both of us happy?" _Daisuke's words made their way to the front of his mind._ "He told me not to wait until it's too late. I don't have a clue what the literal thing feels like." _He barely held back a growl of frustration. _"What am I supposed to do?!"_

He continued to argue with himself even when they had arrived at their destination, concluding the search. Now, they just had to wait for the others. They were the first ones to arrive. The shinobi had split into two groups to search the perimeter, checking it see if any of the others were close. Sai and Sasuke had taken one side, Ino and Sakura the other.

* * *

"Do you think that there is a possibility that everyone fought Kenshi?" Sai asked.

"Hn, I've been wondering the same thing myself," Sasuke answered.

They had been patrolling for about an hour now; no sign of their companions. It was strange that no one else had made an appearance yet. Both men thought the exact same thing.

"Maybe it was because we traveled by air?" Sai suggested.

"Perhaps."

Another silence followed. The only sounds were their rhythmic breathing, not even a rustle or twig snapping was heard.

They walked for a few more minutes before Sasuke thought of something that he wanted to ask the former ANBU. He hesitated, thinking that it would destroy his pride. _"If I really want to know how I feel, then I have to ask."_

Sighing heavily, Sasuke twisted his head towards the other male. "Can I ask you something?"

Sai had a curious look on his face. "You want to ask me something?"

"Yes."

"Well... Then I guess you should, as a normal person would say, ask away."

Taking a deep breath and swallowing, the Uchiha said what was on his mind. "Do you feel, different, when you're around your girlfriend, uh, Ino?"

Sai was clearly shocked by the question. "Do you mean like in a romantic sort of way?"

A nod.

The male being questioned took out a small notebook. He flipped through many pages, scanning each one.

Sasuke was beginning to regret his actions. However, he was glad that Sai wasn't jeering at him for the question.

Finally, the pale ninja stopped at a page that was covered in notes. Sai cleared his throat as he studied the page. "Yes, I do feel different. According to my notes, it is the emotion love."

"Hn..."

Sai put his notebook away and they walked in silence for the next few minutes. When they had passed a small river, the former ANBU put an end to the soundless moments. "By the way, are you asking because you need help expressing your love for Sakura? If so, I could be of assistance."

Sasuke immediately became flustered, turning a dark shade of red. The Uchiha glanced around in all directions, making sure that the girls were no where in sight or earshot. He calmed himself down while crossing his arms, sighing. "You, too?"

He looked to be slightly taken aback. "What do you mean?"

"Why are all of you so concerned about me and Sakura?!" he angrily whispered.

The pale shinobi scratched his head. "Well, I thought it was quite obvious that you have some sort of attraction towards her. Everyone else seems to have noticed as well."

"No kidding..." Sasuke muttered under his breath. "I don't need your help with it."

"So does that mean you were already planning on confessing your feelings?"

Growling, the Uchiha quickly retaliated. "I don't have any feelings to confess!"

Sai had returned his expression to normal, appearing to be unfazed by his comrade's outburst. "I read somewhere that people who hide or have trouble expressing emotions will often lie to themselves when they feel a strong emotion, saying that it is impossible for them to feel that way about it."

Sasuke did not have anything else to spit back. Instead, he considered the male's words greatly. Even Sai of all people was saying that he thought Sasuke and Sakura both had feelings for each other.

"Just stay out of it. I can handle things on my own."

* * *

"I would've thought that at least one other group would be here by now," Ino stated.

"Same here," Sakura agreed.

By now, it was late in the afternoon and both groups had searched for hours. Their initial thought had been that the others were just running late, but there hadn't been a single sign of them all day.

"Do you think we should head out and search for them?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe we should give them some more time."

"Yeah, I guess so. Wanna head back to the main area? We've been looking all day."

She nodded.

Ino smiled suspiciously as they turned around. "You know, I can tell."

The Haruno frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"

"I can tell that Sasuke feels the same way about you."

Sakura huffed. "Would you stop going on about that?"

"I'm only doing it because I'm positive that he loves you, too. Yesterday, I asked him a bunch of stuff about it."

"You did what?! Why?!"

"Would you just shut up for a minute Forehead! Ugh, as I was saying, Sasuke loves you."

Sakura turned her head so that she was facing away from her friend. "Did he say that directly?"

"No, but-"

"See! He doesn't so just leave him alone about it! While you're at it, don't say anything about it to me either!"

"SHUT IT BILLBOARD BROW!"

Nearby birds flew away from the loud outburst. Sakura stared at Ino in surprise, too.

The Yamanaka took a deep breath. "Sorry about that. Will you just hear me out?"

Slowly, Sakura nodded and they continued to make their way back to the main meeting area.

"I asked him a lot of things that tell if you're in love or not. He said yes to all of them."

Sakura gazed at her friend from the corner of her eye. "Sasuke asked me what it felt like to be in love a while back."

Ino raised her eyebrows in shock. "He did?!"

"Yeah, he said he was just curious though."

"Just curious? Ugh... Anyway, there was one question I asked that I really wanted to tell you about." Ino excitedly ran in front of her best friend, making her stop walking. "He said yes when I asked him if he'd ever wanted to kiss you besides the arena."

Sakura gasped and immediately turned a dark shade of red. She replied shakily, "I think we've almost kissed for real a few times."

"Then what else do you need to be convinced that he's in love with you?!"

Sakura shoved Ino aside and walked at a fast pace. "It's just... I don't know. I guess because it's not Sasuke."

She ran to keep up with her friend. "Even people like him have to show emotions sometimes."

"Can we stop talking about this right now?"

"Why?! You should be happy and excited about this!"

"Shut up!"

They both froze, the whole world seeming to have stopped as well.

"Sakura?"

"Why? Why are all of you so concerned about us?"

Ino was still confused as to why her friend was currently being so defiant with this topic. Over time, Sakura had become an incredible kunoichi. In fact, she had become more daring and bold. Everyone loved to be around her if she wasn't in a bad mood. However, whenever Sasuke Uchiha was involved in a conversation or she heard a small mention of the man, it was like she became someone completely different. Sometimes it was even more cheerful than usual, sometimes miserable. Sakura was always serious when it came to Sasuke though. But, why wouldn't she be happy that he might finally admit that he loves her? Ino smiled sadly. "Because it seems like you're the only one that never gets a happy ending..."

Sakura's voice was hardly a whisper and Ino had to strain her ears to hear what her friend was saying. "I don't think that a true happy ending is possible in this world. It's never perfect."

Ino struggled to find the right words. "Well, maybe nothing is ever perfect... But, if anyone deserves to be happy, it's definitely you. You've had to put up with so much crap. And, after all you've been through..."

"I want to focus on the mission right now. At the moment, we should continue to wait for the others. We'll have to do something if they don't come." After this, Sakura left Ino standing where she was, utterly baffled and shocked.

_"Sakura, what happened? How come you're acting like this?"_ Ino sadly thought to herself.

* * *

The four shinobi looked at the setting sun. In a few minutes, it would be gone and the moon would rise. Ino, Sai, Sasuke, and Sakura shared the exact same thoughts. What the heck had happened to their comrades?!

"Should we search for them now?" Sai suggested.

The others shared a long glance. Sasuke was the one who answered. "Not yet."

"Yeah, maybe we should give them a little more time," Sakura added.

And so, they waited longer. As the moon rose, they casually chatted.

Sasuke was wondering what he should do about his confusing feelings towards Sakura. He had been thinking about it all day, contemplating whether or not he should discard the emotion or embrace it. _"I know that I don't deserve her, but what's the point if we both feel the same? I mean, I would hurt her more by keeping this a secret. If I really do feel like that... What do I tell her?! Just come right out and say I love you?! No, that sounds way too desperate. Hm..."_

"I'm getting worried," Ino said. The others nodded in agreement, all except for Sasuke, who looked to be deep in thought. _"Bet he's thinking about Sakura,"_ Ino said to herself, smirking. She peeked at her best friend and noticed that she still looked slightly depressed from their conversation earlier on in the day. _"I guess I went a little overboard with everything. Sorry Sakura."_

By now, the moon had fully risen. They had decided not to make a fire in case any enemies were close by.

Sasuke twisted and twirled his fingers around unconsciously. He had been considering the outcomes of each conclusion nonstop. He was barely aware of the others sitting and talking around him as he thought. Finally, he looked up and turned to face Sakura. She was sitting a few feet away, discussing something with Ino and Sai. _"Should I tell her now? Heck, should I tell her at all?"_ His heartbeat was rapidly accelerating._ "Yes, I-I think that I really do feel that way. I can't do this with them around though."_ Sasuke swallowed.

Sakura sighed and looked in all directions for the millionth time. There was still no sign of even one of their friends.

"S-Sakura?"

Her head tilted towards Sasuke. "Hm?"

He scratched his head. "Will you go on a walk with me?"

Turning red, she hesitated to reply.

Ino and Sai had stopped talking, watching the scene unfold in front of them.

"Oh, um, sure."

They stood and began to set out. Sai turned to Ino with a questioning look. "What do you think that was about?"

Ino shrugged and smiled. "Not sure, but I have a couple of ideas."

* * *

"So, what's on your mind?" Sakura asked.

"Hm?"

"When you asked me to go with you, it sounded like something was bothering you."

He scratched his head quickly. They had been walking in silence for about a minute, long enough to distance themselves some from Ino and Sai. "I actually do have something that I want to tell you."

"What is it?"

The Uchiha stopped walking._ "I can't say that right off. It would sound weird. What do I say then?!"_ He scratched his head again, hand shaking.

Sakura also stopped walking, giving him a concerned look. "Sasuke, are you okay?"

He nodded quickly. "Hn, I'm fine. Listen. I-uh. You and-" He paused, trying to gather his calmness. He couldn't stop himself from grabbing clumps of his shirt out of nervousness and frustration.

"Hey, you should sit down."

"No! I-" Breathing deeply, Sasuke put his shaking hand by his side and pieced his thoughts together. "You and I, we've known each other for a long time."

Sakura hesitantly nodded, an eyebrow raised. "Yeah?"

Sasuke fumbled with his shirt once more, turning his gaze to the ground. "And, um, we're close friends. Uh, good friends."

Sakura was beginning to turn red again. _"Is he-?"_

_"Just tell her already! Spit it out!"_ He could hear his own heart pounding in his ears. "W-What I'm t-trying to say is..."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Sakura asked worriedly, advancing towards him.

He nodded and moved out of her reach._ "I'm making a complete fool of myself! Just say it already!"_ Gulping, he closed his eyes and tried again. "I..." Sasuke thought that he was going to pass out on the spot. He'd never felt this horrible when talking to someone. This time though, it was so different from a normal conversation. The Uchiha never imagined that saying this would be so hard and complicated. _"All you have to do is say I have feelings for you. That's it! Now get it over with!" _

"Sasuke?"

He was snapped out of his inner thoughts. This was it. Right here, right now, he was going to tell her how he truly felt. "Sakura, I have feeli-"

"Help!" came a weak cry from somewhere beside the pair. They revolved around, looking to see where it had come from.

"There!" Sakura said, pointing to a bush that was moving around. "Who's there?"

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and gasped when he saw who it was. Lee and Tenten crawled their way out of the cover of the bushes, basically dragging each other along. Both appeared to be in as bad a condition as Ino and Sai had been when they had first met up, possibly even worse. Sasuke and Sakura were frozen solid at the sight of their comrades. The two members of Team Gai collapsed, pulling the others out of their shock.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Lee and Tenten, I know you're like REALLY injured and all, but couldn't you have waited just a second longer?!

**OTHER UPDATES**

The second chapter of Family Struggles should be out by now.


	20. I Can Handle It

**Author's Note: **So there's been a lot happening recently. I guess my note at the end of the chapter is kind of important.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura each grabbed one of their comrade's arms and wrapped it around their shoulder. Lee was barely conscious so Sasuke traveled slower than Sakura and Tenten. Tenten looked to be in intense agony, grunting with each step they took.

"How far are we from Sai and Ino?" Sakura asked urgently.

Sasuke stared in the direction they had come from. "Not too far. I think they can hear us from this spot."

"Sai and Ino are with you guys?" Tenten asked groggily.

"Yeah, we met up with them on our way back. Sai! Ino!" Sakura quickly shouted.

Seconds later, the pair ran out from the cover of some bushes, looking around to see what the problem was. They gasped and got over their shock quickly, coming to help their injured friends. Sasuke and Sai had to lift Lee off of his feet to keep up with the others. The taijutsu specialist lost what little consciousness he had left, his head falling. The groups jogged their way back to the meeting location, fearing the worst. Sasuke and Sai set Lee down and waited for instructions.

Sakura ran to the fallen male and immediately began to heal him. "Ino, you help me. Sasuke and Sai, you two take care of Tenten."

Everyone nodded and seperated. The guys didn't know the first thing about medical ninjutsu, so they grabbed some bandages and studied Tenten to see which wound appeared to be the worst. She gestured for them to hand the bandages to her. "I can do it myself," she laughed. "I don't want your girlfriends to get jealous."

Sasuke and Sai shared an embarrassed glance. The Uchiha looked at Sakura for an instant before turning his attention back to his current task._ "Girlfriend, huh? I wish that I didn't even begin to tell her that I had feelings for her at that time. That would've been really... Awkward." _He stared at the ground. "It's not like that."

Tenten cackled again before it turned into a pained cough. "Seriously though, give me the bandages."

Sai hesitated. "Tenten, I don't think you can apply them by yourself. In fact, it would make your condition worse."

Huffing, she snatched them out of their hands. "Oh well. You two don't know anything about this stuff do you?"

They shook their heads and the kunoichi began to wrap a wound on her arm. She groaned every time she attempted to treat an injury. Sasuke and Sai forced her to let them help, not wanting to hear Sakura and Ino nagging them about it. Tenten reluctantly obeyed Sai's orders, Sasuke holding the supplies they needed. The Uchiha was staring mindlessly at Sakura, watching her focus on Lee. He wanted her to return his gaze and for their eyes to lock. _"I choked really bad a while ago. Out of all the times for me to be speechless, why then? Doesn't matter because I wasn't thinking straight. Now is not the right time or place to tell her that. Maybe later."_

"Hey!" Tenten called as she waved a hand in front of his face.

He jumped, surprised by the sudden action. "What? Where's Sai?"

She crossed her arms and smirked. "He went to get a scroll I dropped back there. How come you didn't notice? Too busy staring at Sakura?"

He angrily rolled his eyes. "No one will leave me alone about it. For the last time, it's not like that. What did you want?"

"I wanted you to hand me another bandage. And, we bother you about it because everyone knows. It seems like you still haven't figured it out yet."

He held out a hand with a bandage in it, raising an eyebrow. _"Figured out what?"_

Her smirk grew wider. "Need an explanation?"

He sighed and put a hand under his chin, realizing exactly why she was teasing him. "Because you think that we feel the same way towards each other, right?"

Tenten gasped at the male's knowledge. She stared at the ground and scratched her head. "Uh, yeah."

"Hn, let me handle it."

"So does that mean that you do feel the same?"

"No! I... I guess, I mean, I don't know." He was doing his best to deny that he had feelings for Sakura because he wanted everyone to leave him alone about it.

Tenten shook her head. "Men..."

Sai returned but was not alone. Shikamaru and Temari limped together beside him. Neither looked to be seriously injured, but they were obviously in pain. Sai handed a shocked Tenten her missing scroll and made the others sit.

"Let me guess," Sai started, "you were attacked?"

They nodded.

Sasuke looked at Tenten and the newly found pair. "By Kenshi?"

The three gasped in unison and shared a long, astonished glance. They finally turned back to the Uchiha and said that they had.

"How did you know?" Temari questioned.

"So far, everyone that has shown up has fought the master swordsman," Sai explained.

Shikamaru jolted suddenly. "Wait, so not everybody is here yet?"

Sasuke and Sai shook their heads. The group of shinobi turned to face the severly injured Lee. Sakura and Ino were still putting all their focus into healing the taijutsu specialist. Both of them had worried expressions, repeatedly checking to see if the male was breathing.

"Me and Shikamaru can last a while without being healed," Temari stated. The Nara nodded in agreement.

"Sakura and Ino told me and Sasuke to help Tenten. So I guess we could do the same for you two," Sai stated.

Before Sasuke could turn to help the others, Tenten grabbed the rest of the bandages he had in his hand and tried to shove him aside. "Let's at least have one person that knows what they're doing." He frowned as she continued. "You can go check on how Lee is doing." Sasuke was about to stand up, but the kunoichi pulled him closer when no one was looking. "Go get her," she whispered in his ear.

Turning red, Sasuke got up and walked towards the other group. He heard Sakura and Ino giving each other updates on their progress. The pink haired kunoichi was focused on Lee's worst wound.

"How's he doing?" Sasuke asked quietly.

Sakura looked up in surprise. "Oh, um... He's going to live. If we can heal the major wounds soon, he'll be up and moving in no time."

"Hn," he replied, staying where he was. The Uchiha didn't make another noise, not wanting to distract the pair. Instead, he looked Lee over. He was shocked by how the worst wound appeared, the one on his stomach that Sakura was paying attention to. It was obvious that a sword or something had pierced the spot. _"Kenshi..."_ Sasuke could not wait to put an end to the enemy. Of course something bad was bound to happen whenever the Uchiha had decided to return to his village, his home. No matter what, it always seemed like Sasuke was destined to have a completely miserable life. Frowning, he turned his gaze back to Sakura. _"I still can't believe that I blew it that bad back there. Maybe-"_

Loud cursing filled the area and everyone who was conscious turned to see an infuriated Naruto carrying Hinata on his back. She looked to be slightly irritated with the male.

"Naruto, I think that I can walk now," Hinata pleaded, attempting to shuffle off of her husband's back.

He ignored her and kept her in place. "Hinata you're hurt!"

"You've been carrying me ever since we finished the battle. Please, at least let me sit."

Reluctantly, the livid Uzumaki gently set her down and crossed his arms. "So that guy Sasuke fought a long time ago showed up with a bunch of other people and tried to take us out! I swear that I've never been angrier! After we beat the crap outta the guys he brought with him, me and Hinata had to fight him! He was kinda beaten up after a while, but then he got Hinata. That guy ticked me off when he did that! I put an end to him with a Rasenshuriken! And after that he sorta disappeared!"

"Stop yelling dobe," Sasuke commanded. "And so far, everyone that's here has had an encounter with Kenshi."

Hinata gasped as she caught sight of Lee. "Everybody that's here? So, not everyone is back yet?"

Naruto copied her expression as he surveyed his surroundings. "That guy, Kenshi, we all fought him? And is Bushy Brow gonna be okay?"

Sasuke answered. "No, not all of us are here. And yes, so far everyone has had a battle with Kenshi. Sakura said that Lee will be fine."

As their newly found comrades continued to look around and see who was missing, Sasuke turned toward Sakura. His eyes widened when he saw that the wound on Lee's stomach appeared to be ten times better than it had been a few minutes ago. Worry took over the Uchiha's mind as he knelt down beside his teammate. "Sakura, don't exhaust yourself."

She huffed. "I'm almost done anyway. Ino, what about the other injuries?"

The Yamanaka wiped sweat off of her brow. "I'm also about finished."

Sakura nodded. "Sasuke?"

"Hm?"

"What was it you wanted to tell me before, you know?"

Ino noticed that the Uchiha turned a light shade of red. _"Hm... Don't screw this up Uchiha!_" A smirk settled on her features, but she put her head down to hide it.

Sasuke scratched his head and urgently thought of something to say. There were way too many people around for him to say this now. Even if he was going to say it at that moment, would he completely lose his cool like last time? "I-It's not important right now. It can wait."

"Oh, okay."

Silently, the Uchiha breathed a mental sigh of relief. Then, he noticed Ino Yamanaka with a glare on her face that could kill, and it was apparently directed towards him. His lips made a thin line as he looked behind him to see that no one was there. Her glare only got deadlier as their gazes met once again. The frustrated Uchiha soundlessly threw up his hands, basically asking what the heck was she doing. Her response was crossing her arms and tilting her head in Sakura's direction. _"How did she know that I was going to-?" Is it really that obvious?"_ Sasuke thought to himself.

Ino cleared her throat. "Alright Sakura, I think I'm done. Anyway, do you think it would be okay if we built a campfire?"

The Haruno nodded without looking up.

Ino directed her attention back to the Uchiha. "Sasuke, would you be a gentleman and help me gather some wood?"

_"Great. I can't get out of this one..."_ As he began to curse mentally, he stood up. "Hn."

The second they were out of view of the rest of their comrades, Ino grabbed Sasuke's ear and dragged him along. He gritted his teeth and dealt with the pain, trying not to alert everyone else. He knew that he could've dodged her hand, but he wanted to get this over with as fast as possible.

"You big fat chicken!" she spat as she continued to pull him. "Why didn't you say it?!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.

"Shut up! I know exactly what's going on! Finally, after all this time you can admit it to yourself! What the heck was that?!"

Sasuke was more than irritated at the moment. "Let go!"

Surprisingly, she complied wih his request and released his now red and throbbing ear. He knew what she was going to say even before she began to speak. Let the rant continue.

"Why else would you want to speak with her in private a while ago?! I'm the only one that would've heard you wimp!"

He stopped rubbing his ear and crossed his arms. "I'm only going to say it when it's just me and Sakura."

"So are you finally going to confess?!" The excited look on her face was nothing compared to the annoyed one on Sasuke's.

"Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."

"Don't you dare play around with me Uchiha!"

"Look, I'm handling it so you and the rest just stay out of it."

"I'm handling it," she mocked. "Just stay out of it. How long is it gonna take for you to handle it?"

"As long as I need," he retorted.

"She has been waiting for who knows how long? I don't know why she hasn't left your sorry butt in the dirt, but I'm with it if it makes her happy. You need to suck it up and be a man."

"I've already said that I'm going to tell her when we're alone."

"You had plenty of time to do it a while ago. What happened?"

He did not answer.

Before long, Ino realized the truth and began to laugh. "Who would have thought that this is what Sasuke Uchiha would be afraid of? You chickened out didn't you?"

He huffed and turned red.

"Wow..." She shook her head repeatedly.

"For the last time, I can take care of it. This is between Sakura and I. No one else. So all of you leave us alone."

After a minute of an intense stare down, Ino sighed and threw her hands up. "Fine. You are impossible you know. Anyway, if you say that you've got it then go ahead. Don't screw it up though. And you can't keep waiting."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He knew that he couldn't wait too long.

"I said that we would get some wood for a fire. So I guess we better get started on that."

Sasuke did not waste any time in turning around and moving at a quick pace. He hated being lectured no matter what it was about. Why couldn't they understand that he could do this on his own? Sure, that first attempt was pretty bad, but he felt slightly more confident about it this time.

After the both of them had silently collected wood, they headed back to the campsite, only to stop in shock and relief as they realized that all groups had arrived. Kiba had both of his hands covering his face while Sakura healed Akamaru. Sasuke deposited his pile of wood and sat down close to the group.

"What happened?" someone asked the distraught Inuzuka.

He didn't remove his hands. "That Kenshi guy threw a kunai at my neck and I was still dazed so I didn't have time to move. Akamaru took the hit for me. I wouldn't let any of those guys get near him after that."

After another minute of listening to all the stories from the groups, they learned that everyone had been attacked by Kenshi, not so surprising. The male had supposedly disappeared for all of them, too.

Sasuke noticed that there was a line waiting to get medical attention. He moved out of the way and quickly traveled to the front. Sakura was still working her butt off. Akamaru was unconscious in front of her, a nasty wound near his right shoulder. Sakura wiped sweat off of her forehead and continued to work. Sasuke immediately became worried for his teammate.

"You okay?" he asked as he knelt beside her.

She glanced at him for an instant. "Yeah. I'm probably going to be up all night though."

"Don't overdo it. I'm here to help."

"Thanks," she responded.

Minutes turned to hours as Sasuke watched Sakura heal countless injuries from many comrades. The fire was the only thing that kept the area lit. No one knew how late at night it was and no one really cared. Gaara thanked the Haruno and went to join the others, him being the last to be treated. Everyone wanted to share their tales of their battle with Kenshi, but only if all of the shinobi were listening. They were all sitting in a tight circle, waiting for Sasuke and Sakura to join. However, the medic was breathing heavily and had her hands on her knees, staring at the ground. Sasuke did not hesitate to rub one hand across her back, not caring if anyone else saw.

"I told you not to overdo it."

"With this many people needing help..."

Sasuke glanced at the large group through the corner of his eye. Currently, a few were chatting or looking over some of their bandaged wounds. He turned his attention back to Sakura. "You need to rest. I'm not taking no for an answer."

She had no strength left to argue. Instead, Sakura nodded and let him gently put an arm around his shoulder. Now, all the others were watching soundlessly as Sasuke led her to one of the sleeping bags that had been set up.

As Sakura crawled into the sleeping bag, she remembered something from earlier. "Are you gonna tell me what you wanted to a while ago?"

He waited a moment to reply. "Hn, later. It's not important right now. You need to get some rest."

She smiled when she closed her eyes. "You're so difficult."

He didn't respond as he sat down and watched her.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So this chapter was also shorter than usual and I apologize for that. Lately, I've had a lot to do. I had family visit and I had to go to a ton of places. Anyway, I've also been depressed recently as well. That's kept me from writing and I'm just trying to get over that. I'm literally finishing this up at about midnight. I'm going to try and get back to my normal self so until then, my writing may be a little shorter. Thanks so much for your support! It really helps!

**OTHER UPDATES**

I don't know when the next chapter of Family Struggle will be out. I haven't started on that because of the reasons above.


	21. New Discovery

**Author's Note: **So I guess I'm doing better. Thanks so much for the support! Enjoy!

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to see that it was very early in the morning, the sun just beginning to rise. Someone sitting up beside her cast a large shadow over the medical kunoichi. Turning her head to the side, she couldn't resist the urge to give off a huge smile. Sasuke had one hand under his chin, appearing to be half asleep. The moment she tried to shuffle out of the sleeping bag, his eyes lazily shot open.

"You should get some more rest," he said groggily.

"I could say the same to you," she retorted.

"Hn, I'm fine. How are you feeling?"

She slowly sat up after she had moved completely out of the sleeping bag. "Better, but still exhausted."

"Rest. It's still early. No one else is up yet."

She smirked. "Let me guess. You were keeping watch again?"

He returned the smirk. "I don't want anything to happen. Besides, most of you are injured. It's the least I could do."

"Then could you do me a favor?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Go to sleep."

"No. Someone that isn't injured has to stay up."

"Then go and get Sai."

He shook his head, still refusing.

"Fine, then I'm staying up with you," Sakura proclaimed.

"Hn..." He rubbed his eyes. _"Well, technically now we're alone. Should I do this here? Should I do it now?" _Looking around the small campsite, he mentally groaned when he saw Naruto standing up and stretching. The Uzumaki then ran towards his teammates.

"How are you guys feeling?" Naruto asked as he sat down beside them.

"We were good until you came over here," Sasuke replied venomously.

Naruto slapped Sasuke's back. "Shut up you jerk. You alright Sakura?"

She smiled. "I feel a little better. Not great though. What about you and the rest? I need to check on Akamaru and Lee soon."

Naruto put both of his hands behind his head. "I feel awesome and I can't wait to really show that Kenshi guy who's boss! Anyway, everyone else said they felt a million times better thanks to you!"

Sasuke sneered and crossed his arms. "If you don't quiet down, you'll wake everyone else up."

"So? The sooner we're all up the better. We need to talk about our fights with Kenshi. I wanna beat him up as soon as possible!"

"We can't take any action unless we have a plan. That and most of us have to recover," Sasuke contradicted.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You're so negative. We could kick that loser's butt anytime we want!"

The Uchiha was becoming more and more irritated by the second. "Have you forgotten that Kurushimi is out there? Let's not leave out the fact that they have an army as well."

"You see what I mean?! Always negative!"

Sakura joined the conversation. "Naruto, please stop yelling. And, Sasuke's right, we can't just blindly rush into something. Especially when a lot of us are injured."

The Uzumaki huffed in defeat. "Yeah, yeah."

Sakura looked off to the side. "I should check on Lee and Akamaru now. Their injuries were the most severe."

Sasuke immediately stopped her from moving. "You need to recover, too."

"Who's going to help them then?" she argued.

Sasuke sighed and held out a hand. "I'll help you go over there."

Blushing lightly, she took his hand and draped her arm around his shoulder.

Naruto hopped off the ground. "I don't wanna be here alone. I'm gonna help." He held out a hand just as Sasuke had.

The Uchiha wanted to get the Uzumaki as far away from the pair as he possibly could. "Don't you have a wife to look after?"

Naruto jolted and slowly withdrew his hand. "Oh yeah. I should see if she needs anything." With this, he walked in the opposite direction as Sasuke and Sakura.

As they slowly made their way to the most injured, Sakura tilted her head towards Sasuke. "Now are you going to tell me what you've been wanting to?"

It was like an atomic bomb had gone off inside him. He could hear his own heart thundering against his chest. The male hadn't been this nervous since his first attempt. In fact, he'd only ever been this frightened when it came to this certain subject. "See to them first."

She frowned. "How long are you gonna make me wait?"

_"I'm sorry. I'm not good with words. I need time to think. There's no way I'm gonna make a fool out of myself like last time," _he thought to himself. The pressure kept building up the more his mind explored the outcomes. He debated with himself nonstop over it.

Lee and Akamaru were no doubt in the worst condition of the entire group. Neither had woken up after Sakura had healed them. Both Sasuke and Sakura sat down next to the unconscious pair. As the kunoichi began to examine them, Sasuke watched her and wondered if he should offer his assistance. He was trying to think of any way possible to ease his worries. "Are you sure you don't want my help?"

Sakura looked at him with a slightly surprised expression. "I think I can handle this on my own. Oh and after this, you're telling me what's been on your mind."

He smirked as she shuffled towards Akamaru. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell her now. Glancing around, his confidence sank when he saw that most of the group was awake or just now waking up. The male scratched his head in defeat as his attention once again came back to Sakura.

She breathed a sigh of relief. "It looks like they'll be up and moving soon. I'll replace the bandages later. Now, what's been on your mind?"

He pivoted his head around to hide the light shade of red that had appeared on his face. "C-Can we go somewhere in p-private?"

She grabbed his hand out of concern. "Hey, are you okay? You were stuttering like this when we took a walk. Maybe you should rest some. Especially since you didn't sleep last night."

He quickly calmed himself and moved his hand out of her grasp. "Stop worrying about it. I'm fine. I just... have a lot on my mind."

She smiled and crossed her arms. "Then hurry up and tell me."

_"That's what I'd like to do,"_ he thought. "I will when we're in private."

She giggled. "What, is it some embarrassing secret? Just whisper it to me."

He huffed in frustration. "No! It's not. Sakura, I'm not joking about this."

She immediately noticed the tone in his voice and shrank. "I'm sorry. Where d-?"

The pair gasped as Naruto slung an arm around their shoulders, pulling them into a huge hug. Without hesitation, Sasuke shoved the Uzumaki away and angrily stood up, towering over him. "Do that again and I'll put a hole in your chest!" He was livid._ "I thought I got rid of him..."_

Naruto let go of a bewildered Sakura and jumped up to match Sasuke. "Shut it you piece of crap! What's wrong with-?!"

Sakura punched both males in the stomach, making them lose their breath and hunch over. Putting her teammates in tight headlocks, she said, "I'm tired of you two idiots fighting about pointless crap all the time!" She released them and they fell to the ground, rubbing their necks.

Naruto chuckled quietly. He spoke with a joking tone so that only he and his best friend could hear. "This must suck for you. Guess she's also had enough of your crap. The only person that actually likes you is-"

The Uchiha angrily kicked Naruto. Grabbing the man's collar, he rolled on top of him. The startled Uzumaki gasped when his gaze caught the blood red in the disgruntled male's eye. Instead of fear, a spark of fury lit inside of Naruto as his eyes also changed, revealing his Sage Mode. "Yo! Sasuke chill out!" He growled when the attacker tightened his grip.

"Finish what you were gonna say before! I dare you!" the Uchiha snarled. "I'll kill you on the spot!"

Naruto retaliated by grabbing Sasuke's collar. Both males had an iron grip on each other. "What the heck is wrong with you?!" the Uzumaki seethed. "And you're not even gonna put a scratch on me! I'll beat you as bad as I did when we were in the Final Valley last time!"

Before Sasuke could fire back, sand covered the two males and seperated them, flinging them back and pinning them against trees on opposite ends of the campsite. Gaara nervously switched his gaze back and forth between the men. Everyone stood behind the Kazekage, whispering to one another. Even Lee and Akamaru were up, using their comrades as support. Kakashi calmly walked in front of the Kazekage.

Sasuke and Naruto had their gazes locked, full of fury. Neither struggled against the sand, only clenching their uncovered fists.

The Hokage cleared his throat and sighed. "What's the issue this time?"

Not one of the restrained males answered, still focused on glaring at the other.

Kakashi sighed for a second time. "Alright then. Can you two at least calm yourselves?"

Naruto huffed but obeyed. He let his body relax and the markings around his eyes diappeared. All of the shinobi were shocked to learn that the Uzumaki was the first to calm down. In fact, Sasuke only got more agitated. He began to struggle wildly against the sand keeping him in place. He froze as he caught sight of Sakura's horrified and confused expression. Frowning out of guilt, the Uchiha stared at the ground and let his body relax. Kakashi signaled for Gaara to release Naruto, who also had a guilty expression present on his features. When Sasuke was finally let go, he continued to stare at the ground, hiding his expression entirely. After seconds of complete silence, he slowly walked past everyone, not looking at anyone. The last person he passed was Sakura. No one said a word as the Uchiha sauntered into the woods.

Suddenly, the baffled Uzumaki began to head in the direction his teammate had. Sakura and Hinata were quick to stop him. After Hinata had grabbed her husband's arm, she made him turn to face her. "Naruto-"

He moved away from the women and faced the direction Sasuke had gone. "I'm not goin anywhere. I just... I don't get it. I was just playing around like I always do."

Hinata rubbed her hands together. "Sometimes you tend to go a little far."

He shook his head repeatedly. "I know. But, even I know what really sets him off."

* * *

Sasuke stared at his reflection that was visible on the surface of the water. He had been sitting on the riverbank for most of the day. The rage he had towards his best friend had mostly gone away, but some still lingered. Was it true? Did Sakura really not care anymore? He angrily threw a stone into the water, causing a gigantic splash. No, it definitely was not true. Rubbing his eyes, he wondered why he had even taken Naruto's joke seriously. He then ruffled his dark hair. The Uchiha did not have his headband, cloak, or any of his weapons with him. He couldn't care less if everyone hated him. They had the right to hate the Uchiha, but when the Uzumaki had started to say that Sakura didn't care... It made Sasuke truly feel alone. Sure Sasuke did have some friends, but without Sakura he felt like nothing.

_"All of this is too much for me,"_ Sasuke thought.

"Go say it!" came a distant shout from behind.

Sasuke did not twist his head around.

"No! It's embarrassing!"

"Hinata told me to make you even if you refused!"

The footsteps came closer and Sasuke peered at the newcomers from the corner of his eye. Sakura was shoving someone along. To his dismay, that someone turned out to be a certain Uzumaki.

"I'll take whatever punishment Hinata wants to give me!" Naruto complained.

"Shut up and say it or I'll give you some extra punishment!" Sakura shouted.

Huffing and crossing his arms, Naruto looked away and began to speak. Sasuke was quick to interrupt, his back facing them. "Don't bother. I don't need an apology from someone th-"

"Shut up you-!"

Sakura punched Naruto on the back of his head, making him see stars. She sighed. "You two are hopeless..."

Sasuke frowned as he continued to gaze into the river. "Are we friends?"

Both Naruto and Sakura had a bewildered look on their faces. Naruto scratched his head. "Wel-"

"Not you idiot!" Sasuke spat, unmoved.

The Uzumaki quickly turned to Sakura, who looked even more shocked than before. He was beyond lost...

"O-Of course we are. Why would you even ask?" she responded shakily.

A lightbulb had gone off. Naruto nodded slowly in confirmation, trying to hide his expression._ "That's what he went off about?! Ha! This jerk really really really likes Sakura! If I try to help and Hinata finds out, she'll go off on me too! I guess I have to be quiet and keep to myself. Ugh... Great... I hate this already..."_

Sasuke was motionless, his hands folded in front of his mouth, elbows resting on his knees. _"I wish the dobe would leave... Then we'd be alone. Maybe I can do it without hesitation this time..."_

Naruto suddenly remembered something important. "Oh yeah! Back at camp we were all gonna tell what happened during the search! We gotta hurry if we wanna hear everything!"

"We'll be there in a minute. Go on ahead," Sakura responded.

The Uzumaki quickly sped off into the woods, towards the campsite.

_"Finally," _Sasuke thought.

"What's wrong? Why did you ask if we were still friends? You know we are," Sakura said curiously.

He swallowed. "It's just... Naruto-"

"Since when do you ever listen to what he says?" she questioned, smiling and crossing her arms.

He smirked. "Yeah, you're right. It was stupid." He stood up and walked until he was right in front of her. "Can I tell you that thing now?"

Suddenly, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Tell me while we're going back to camp."

He stared at their hands as they ran along. _"No, not like this..."_ He skidded to a complete stop, dragging her with him. "Can't we talk for a few minutes?"

"No. If we want to learn about our enemies, then we have to hurry back," she claimed. "You're usually the one that's concerned about that kind of thing."

"Then let me tell you why I'm not," he said, clearly frustrated.

She huffed and put her hands on his shoulders. "Go! Say it now!"

He froze entirely, not even daring to breathe. They stood like this for a minute or so.

"Fine! Don't tell me then!" she complained as she once again pulled him along.

The Uchiha mentally cursed himself the rest of the way back to camp. The pair sat down side by side, filling the gap in the circle around the fire. Everyone already knew that Kenshi had been the main opponent for each team and that he had disappeared at the end of each battle. After all the shinobi had shared their stories, they learned that each group had also faced a large number of their army. Not only that, but the members of the army had been well, weak and easy to defeat. When the defeated members of the army were to be captured, every single one of them had exploded. At first, Sakura was surprised by this fact. Then, she remembered how the earth prison had fallen apart and how the ground shook. The last major part was the fact that everyone had felt the sensation of their memories being copied after seeing Kurushimi's eyes.

However, none of the facts truly made sense. Many questions still needed to be answered. Why were there so many Kenshis? Why were the army members so weak? What was with Kenshi disappearing and their memories being copied after catching sight of the strange eyes? Those were just a few of the many questions that needed to be answered.

Sakura had written every new discovery down in the notebook she kept. She hadn't picked it up since Sasuke had first seen it. After the kunoichi had gone over them for perhaps the millionth time, she finally shook her head. "I have no clue."

"Can I see what you've been writing down?" Shikamaru asked.

"Of course," Sakura responded, handing the notebook to the Nara.

Shikamaru ended up sitting on the opposite end of the campsite, followed by Gaara and Kakashi. The three men were looking over each note, trying to figure something out.

Meanwhile, the rest of the shinobi had split into small groups, waiting to see if Shikamaru and the Kage had discovered something. Sasuke and Sakura were sitting beside each other under a tree. Now the Uchiha had an opportunity to get "the thing" off of his mind.

"Can we go somewhere private now?" he asked.

"They could find something at any second," she replied. "No one else is near us at the moment. Tell me now."

He crossed his arms and surveyed their surroundings._ "What are they going to think if they see us, I don't know, hugging? Wait, why should I care because they'll find out eventually. Heck, they already think that something's happening between us. But... I can't freeze up again. Especially not in front of everyone else."_ Sasuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Sakura, please. This is really important to me."

She frowned at the serious tone in his voice. She was about to reply, but was interrupted by Naruto plopping down directly in front of the pair.

Sasuke immediately put a disgusted look on his face. _"The idiot always chooses great times to do things like this..."_

Naruto had an excited and eager expression. "I overheard them talking about stuff over there. Looks like they're onto something!"

"That fast?" Sakura questioned, bewildered.

The Uzumaki shrugged. "I dunno. They must've found something that we didn't think about."

Minutes later, the shinobi were called together once again. Anticipation levels ran high among the seated ninjas as Shikamaru stood in the middle beside the fire. He had the notebook in one hand, the other holding a map. He cleared his throat and silence filled the campsite. "We may not be able to answer a lot of questions at the moment, but we now know a major part of this whole operation." He held up the map, which had a gigantic circle around one area. "The location of their hideout."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at this.

Shikamaru held up the notebook. "Sakura took notes on basically every single thing we know about the enemy. Not only that, but she also listed which groups were assigned to what area and when they were attacked. Sasuke and Sakura were ambushed on the last day of the search," he pointed to a spot on the map, "on the point furthest away from the hideout. Kakashi, Gaara, and Kankuro had a battle on the second day of the search and they were the first to be attacked. They were assigned to this exact area," he moved his finger to rest on the circled place, "leading to the explanation that this is where the hideout is located. To make sure, we looked in on the other timings. All of it matches up and we're positive that this is the right place."

The shinobi instantly began to take in everything after Shikamaru was done. Sasuke was thinking the hardest. _"That seemed way too easy to figure out... It's like they want us to find them..."_

"We should all get plenty of rest," Kakashi began, "because we're traveling again tomorrow."

Sasuke glanced at his teammate. _"I'm sorry Sakura, but it'll have to wait. I'm going to defeat them. Soon..."_

* * *

**Author's Note:** Hope you enjoyed! I'm getting to it. Don't worry. Just be patient. Please review! What did you guys think of the latest Gaiden chapter? I thought it was adorable. Also, I've heard that two more novels have been confirmed. One for Itachi and one for Sasuke. Sasuke's is about his future and we all know what's part of that -wink wink-. Also, the new Boruto trailer just came out. It looks like he's able to use Chidori. I thought it looked pretty good.

**OTHER UPDATES**

I'm going to start on the next chapter for Family Struggles soon. I'm not going to abandon it. I promise.


	22. Unprepared

**Author's Note: **I REALLY can't wait for the Boruto movie! I watched The Last a while ago, but never said. To be honest, I thought it was kind of rushed. It was decent though. Anyway, thanks so much for the support! Enjoy!

* * *

_"They're almost here,"_ Kurushimi silently thought, a wicked smile present on his features. _"The fun will really begin soon..."_

* * *

"There it is!" Naruto shouted breathlessly as he reached the top of the small cliff, hunching over while pointing at something off in the distance. He turned around to face the others. They were walking at their own pace, far behind the Uzumaki. "You guys better hurry up or I'm not gonna leave anyone for you to beat the crap out of!"

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, we don't want to alert the enemy! Keep it down!"

"Yes, because yelling more will definitely help the situation," a very tired Sasuke retorted.

After the discovery of the hideout's location, the shinobi had traveled as fast as they could the next day, stopping at a small town that night to replenish their supplies and get some rest. The Uchiha, however, had taken the opportunity of rest and turned it into a "study" session. He had thought about every single detail they knew about the enemy, making sure he went over everything before he dared to close his eyes and sleep. It had taken them another day of running to reach their destination. At the moment, it was early in the morning, the sun just beginning to rise.

Activating his Sharingan, he noted that there seemed to be no one else but them in the area, thankfully.

Sakura put her notebook back into its usual place in her bag. "This is it. We need to catch up to Naruto if we want a good look at the place."

"Wanna race?" Sasuke inquired, smirking.

She returned his smirk. "You're on. Where do we start?"

"Follow me," he commanded. They jogged a short distance ahead of the main group, earning curious stares of amusement. Sasuke had not gotten another chance to tell her how he really felt in the last few days. In fact, it'd been in the back of both of their minds. He stopped and she did the same. "Alright, we're racing to where Naruto is. First one there wins. We start on my mark."

They got into position. Sakura was amused by his sudden mood change. "I didn't know you liked to do things like this. You never did when we were genin. I think Naruto has influenced you."

"Yeah right," he spat, "And... Go!"

They were off. Some of the others had begun to cheer them on, shouting their names and pumping their fists. The two were side by side, weaving through many trees and dodging low hanging limbs or holes in the ground. When they finally reached open ground, they were once again side by side, almost touching. Sasuke peered at her through the corner of his eye, which turned into a stare.

She eventually noticed and twisted her head to the side to face him. "I know that you can go faster than this."

He frowned. "I haven't gotten much sleep lately so..."

She narrowed her eyes knowingly. "And whose fault is that?"

They ended up smiling at each other for a few seconds. Sakura took a glance ahead and began to laugh quietly. She grinned one last time before moving off to the side. He raised an eyebrow before turning his attention forward. He gasped and immediately twisted around in a complete circle, stepping to the side as he did to avoid smacking into a wide tree trunk. The Uchiha silently cursed himself for getting distracted. Now he was on a rough path towards their destination and Sakura had a clear one. He jumped up and grabbed a low hanging branch, flipping so that he was crouching on top of it. Then, he pushed off and hopped through the branches until he gained a chance to hit clear ground. Sasuke landed, but grew frustrated when he realized that he would lose at this rate. He sped up. It was still not enough. His mouth opened a fraction when he remembered that he had his bandana on. With a smirk he thought, _"Hn, we never set any rules."_

Sakura gasped as Sasuke appeared in front of her, directly beside Naruto. The Uzumaki was also surprised. "You cheated!" Sakura exclaimed, reaching the finish.

The Uchiha crossed his arms, his smirk growing wider. "No one said that there were any rules."

She playfully punched his shoulder. "Jerk."

Naruto shook his head at his teammates, grinning from ear to ear. He pointed out over the cliff. "Look. There it is."

Sasuke and Sakura shifted their gazes to where he was pointing. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and frowned. Not too far away was a big hill that looked somewhat like a mountain. On the side facing them, there appeared to be an entrance. Sasuke could not move his eyes away from the dark opening. That was the entrance to the enemy's territory, the beginning of defeating Kurushimi and Kenshi. The longer he stared, for some reason, it seemed as if he grew more and more weary until finally, he staggered forward. It was a sharp pain behind his left eye that had hit him. He began to collapse.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted as both she and Naruto grabbed one of the falling Uchiha's arms.

Sasuke came back to his senses and breathed heavily.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

He shook his head. "I got dizzy."

"You almost fell off the cliff," Sakura informed him, visibly shaken.

Before long, the others came into sight and headed to the edge of the cliff. Sakura forced Sasuke to sit down on a tree stump about twenty feet away from the group.

"Sakura, I'm fine now."

"I don't care. You really scared me a couple of minutes ago."

"Sorry," he apologized quietly. "I'm not sure what happened. I guess I'm just more exhausted than I thought."

"If you don't willingly get some rest tonight, I'm going to knock you out," she threatened.

He nodded in agreement, knowing that she was serious. They watched as the others surveyed the structure and what appeared to be the entrance. Not long after, they began to travel once again towards their destination. About an hour later, Kakashi signaled for them to stop. They stood about a hundred or so feet away from the massive mountain like structure. The current Hokage cautiously took a step forward, scanning the environment. He relaxed. "It seems that we're safe at the moment. I'd like to know what we're walking into though."

Sasuke and Hinata shared a knowing glance before they moved to stand on either side of Kakashi. Each activated their dojutsu and focused on the opening to the structure.

_Thump!_

They gasped and grabbed their eyes simultaneously, deactivating the Sharingan and Byakugan.

"Hinata!" Naruto shouted, quickly coming to her aid.

Sakura grabbed Sasuke's arm before he fell, helping him steady himself.

"What happened?" Kiba asked.

Hinata answered, still holding her eyes. "It was blurry when I tried to look inside. Then it began to shake and pain shot through my eyes. It was like a throbbing sensation. I couldn't tell if there was anything in there."

"I felt the same thing," Sasuke added.

"No one else try and see inside from here no matter what type of 'help' you use," Kakashi warned as Naruto was about to activate Sage Mode. "Are you two alright?"

Sasuke nodded and released his mismatched eyes, blinking rapidly. Hinata hesitantly said she was fine. The Hokage stared at the opening. "Stop here. We need to discuss the situation before we act. For now, lets enjoy the day. Don't go far from here or out in the open. We don't want to alert the enemy in any way."

They split up and chatting filled the area. Sakura grabbed Sasuke's wrist before he could go anywhere. "You have to tell me what's been on your mind now. You keep putting it off."

He jerked his arm away. "No. I have to get busy."

She frowned. "You've been 'busy' ever since we found out where the hideout was located. Can't you take a break? We've already found out everything we possibly could with the information we currently have."

He narrowed his eyes and began to turn. "I can't afford to rest. We need to defeat our enemy before things get out of hand."

"I wondered when the old Sasuke would come back. I just didn't figure that it would take this long," she spat.

He was livid. The old Sasuke? Was she saying that he was like the Sasuke that had killed people? He became unaware of his right eye taking on a blood red color. "All you are to me right now is a burden."

She took a step back when he advanced. "A burden, huh? I wish you would've told me sooner so I could've stayed away from you. Why do you keep lying to me? I know that's all you've ever thought about me, so why do you tell me all these other things? I wait and wait, hoping that maybe you'll actually accept me for once."

The anger he had built up disappeared in an instant. He took another step forward.

"Don't come any closer," she warned, making fists and getting ready to strike if he didn't listen.

Sasuke froze and his eye returned to its regular onyx color. "Sakura, I didn't mean it. I got angry all of a sudden."

"Save it. I'm tired of your excuses and lies. I've been telling myself that you've changed, but I knew that something was wrong. I knew it because you actually acknowledged me." She laughed. "Me and my fantasies. I'm never gonna grow up and realize that it's never gonna happen. You just couldn't care less about any of it and I can't blame you. Yeah, I know I'm annoying so you don't have to say it." She turned and stormed off. "Don't even bother apologizing this time."

Sasuke was speechless. _"What did I just do?"_ He wanted go after her and tell her how he truly felt. He desperately wanted to move, to go and make things right, but his body refused. The only part of his body that cooperated with him was his head. He tilted it to the side to see Kakashi, a frown visible in his eyes. Sasuke shifted his gaze to the ground and stared at his feet.

"Help me," Sasuke whispered weakly. He was shocked that those words had exited his lips, but he really did need help. Kakashi appeared to be as bewildered as the Uchiha. Instead of standing still, the Hokage put a hand on Sasuke's shoulder and told him to stay put.

* * *

Sakura wiped her eyes and sighed. She leaned against the tree trunk and pulled her feet up to let her legs rest on the branch. She heard a rustle from nearby, but didn't move.

Kakashi crawled out from in between some prickly branches. "Ow!" he yelped as he finally got through them. He looked around to see that most branches were very close together. "Well, at least this provides great cover."

Sakura's expression did not change. "What are you doing up here?"

He brushed some dirt off his pants and smiled with his eyes. "I just wanted to chat with one of my former students."

"Naruto is probably on some clear ground. Why would you come all the way up here, getting scrapes and cuts, just to chat?"

He sighed in defeat. "He said that he didn't mean it."

"He always does," she scoffed. "I'm tired of it all. I give up."

"On what? Being friends with him?"

She threw her hands up. "I don't know. Anything involving him."

Kakashi chuckled. "So you're telling me that you're just gonna throw the years that you spent trying to save him away?"

She shook her head sadly. "I always ignored the ones that told me he was worthless. I'm living in my stupid fantasies too much. This time though, I realized how right they were. Heck, Sasuke tried to kill me. No wonder they thought I needed mental care."

Kakashi thought deeply for a minute. "Hm... I've never been in love, but I know that it's a real pain sometimes."

"You have no idea."

"My point is, can you honestly say that you hate him in an instant? I know that you've been through so much, but is giving up now really an option?"

"It's never going to happen anyway, so..."

Kakashi couldn't help himself. He laughed and shook his head back and forth, smiling.

Sakura sighed. "Don't tell me you think so too?"

He settled down. "Sorry, but it's just too obvious."

"What happened recently should tell you otherwise."

"He did say that he didn't mean it," Kakashi repeated. "Will you hear me out?"

Sakura nodded reluctantly.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "You know that Sasuke has always struggled with expressing his emotions. Sometimes even more so than Sai. I can tell that he's definitely been trying though, judging by how he's acted since his return. What's more is that necklace he bought for you. You know, we had exchanged a couple of letters after he left for his journey, and he told me that he was afraid. Sasuke said that he was afraid that you would never truly be happy with him. When he destroyed that meteor months ago, I could see him looking for a certain someone. Do you know who that was?"

She hugged her knees and glanced at the necklace. How could she possibly believe all this? At the same time, why would her sensei lie to her?

Kakashi continued. "I knew by the look in his eyes and his facial expression that it was you. To add to that, when he returned about a month ago, he wanted to go directly to you." He chuckled once more. "I think it's funny how he gets very protective of you Sakura. To be honest, I think that you two would make an adorable couple."

Sakura hid the furious blush present on her features. "Stop being weird Kakashi sensei. I don't know how I'm supposed to believe all that."

"I overheard something about Sasuke REALLY wanting to tell you a thing or two in private."

She huffed. "I was trying to get him to say what it was and you saw the outcome."

The Hokage frowned. "Sasuke is under a ton of pressure right now. Our enemies are after him and he doesn't know why. The abilities they have are not included in our knowledge either. That's why he keeps letting himself get so stressed. But, there is one more thing that probably tops all of that. He feels like he's put everyone in danger. The shinobi world, the village, this group, and most of all, you."

Sakura's expression was hidden from the masked man. "You really think all of it is true?"

He smiled in amusement. "I know it is."

Sakura stood up and wiped fresh tears away. "I think I have to go apologize to someone."

* * *

Sasuke watched the rain get heavier from under the shelter of a tree. Most of the others had ventured further away, but he had stayed put at their official stopping point like Kakashi had told him. He shifted his gaze to stare at the entrace to the caves, wondering why his and Hinata's eyes had been put under a spell of immense pain. _"Maybe if I use the Rinnegan..."_ He took his headband off and ruffled his hair. Sliding his bangs out of the way, he focused the purple eye on the entrance. Almost immediately as he tried, he let out a small cry of pain and covered his left eye. What was wrong? Was this some sort of jutsu that prevents you from seeing the inside of the hideout? _"They probably don't want us to see their chakra networks. That's a disadvantage to us. We won't be able to tell where and how many there are."_ His thoughts drifted back to the argument earlier in the day. The Uchiha wondered if Kakashi could really help him in this situation.

"Sasuke!"

He stood up in shock. "Sakura, I- UNH!" He was tackled by her and they landed on the hard ground. Sasuke couldn't tell if she was hugging him or trying to crush him.

"Sasuke I'm so sorry!" she cried.

"You're sorry?" he squeaked. She loosened her grip when she noticed his struggle to breathe.

"I never should've said any of that," she claimed.

Sasuke raised his head up to see Kakashi standing a short distance away. The Uchiha mouthed the words "What did you say?". Kakashi smiled and gave him a thumbs up before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Sasuke frowned and narrowed his eyes in frustration. His expression quickly softened. "I'm the one that should be sorry. It's my fault."

She raised up and scooted off of him. Sasuke sat up and watched the rain again. "Do you really feel that way though?"

Sakura looked away. "Sometimes..."

"I'm s-"

"Stop apologizing. It's really," she paused, trying to find the right word, "annoying."

Sasuke smirked. "Not as much as you are."

She returned the smirk. "Says the one that has all the mood swings. First, you're asking to race me. Second, you nearly fall off a cliff. Third, we're arguing like there's no tomorrow. And now you won't quit saying you're sorry. Not everything is your fault all the time."

"Feels like it," he muttered. "The reason we're here on this mission is my fault. I don't even know why." He slammed his fist into the bark of the tree behind him, hitting it hard enough to make small droplets of blood drip onto the forest floor.

Sakura softly put a hand on his shoulder, feeling him tense up slightly. "I know that this must make you frustrated. In fact, I think all of us are disheartened because of how little information we have."

"It's not just that. Their abilities... I can tell that they're, hiding, something. What was the point of attacking all of us with weak ninja? What about the fake Kenshis?"

Sakura unclenched Sasuke's bloody fist and began to heal it. "We can figure all that out when we go inside their hideout. For now, don't worry about it. Why don't you tell me that thing. Please?" She reminisced over her conversation with Kakashi. Everyone else was convinced, so why wasn't she? Sakura needed absolute confirmation to truly believe it.

Sasuke's mouth fell open. As she finished up with his hand, the Uchiha twisted his head around, making sure no one else was nearby. He stared at their hands. She was done healing his, but hadn't let go. He was relieved at this because it gave him a sense of comfort. Grabbing his collar with his free hand, Sasuke attempted to put the words together. "Um, we've, uh, known each other for a long time, I guess. Like since before the academy..."

Sakura was holding back an amused laugh. It was really cute, no, adorable to see him in this type of condition. She nodded. "Mhm..."

He let his hand travel to his hair, shakily smoothing out his bangs. "And then we were put on Team 7 together. So we were, uh, closer. A lot happened after that and... We got to know each other a little better, I think..."

She had to bite her lip in order to keep quiet. Another nod.

He continued. "I missed you while I was gone."

Sakura couldn't hide the bright red blush in her cheeks.

He sighed. "What I'm trying to say is that... I'm glad we're friends..."

She waited, but nothing else came. _"Friends, huh? What was I hoping for?"_ Apparently, Sasuke had caught her depressed expression because he quickly thought of something else to say. He knew that he had screwed up. AGAIN.

"No! No! No! That came out wrong!" the Uchiha elaborated, highly embarrassed. "I'm just... really bad with words."

She couldn't resist the urge to chuckle this time. "I can tell."

"Hn..." He gasped when she cupped both sides of his face, making him look at her.

Her smile grew bigger. "You're really nervous. Tell me when you're ready. I won't bother you about it anymore." She withdrew her hands and Sasuke turned away again, blushing lightly.

He glanced at his newly repaired hand. "Yeah. Sure. Thanks."

"So," she began, "what now?"

He rested his head on the bark of the tree. "I don't know, but I'm really tired."

"I wonder why," she commented jokingly. "Now that you mention it, I'm kind of sleepy too. The rain makes it worse."

He smirked and leaned forward. Sasuke took off his cloak and threw it over her.

"What's this for?" Sakura questioned, clearly baffled.

He put an arm around her shoulder. "You ran out in the rain before you tackled me. Might as well have been asking for a cold."

The Haruno grinned and rested her head on his shoulder. "Yes Sasuke, a cold is gonna REALLY hurt me."

They leaned back against the tree. He smirked. "You're annoying. Now shut up and close your eyes."

She did as he commanded and let her eyes close. "Yes, Master Uchiha," she mocked.

His smirk grew wider. "I thought I also told you to shut up."

She shook her head.

* * *

"Yo! Love birds! Wake up!"

Sasuke's eyes slowly twitched open. He glanced to the side to see that Sakura was beginning to stir. Looking forward, he noticed that crickets were chirping and that it was the middle of the night.

Kankuro towered over the pair, an eyebrow raised and an amused smile on his features. He waited until they had fully woken up to speak. "The rest of us were about to discuss the plan for tomorrow. You two are the only ones missing." He chuckled lowly and spoke mostly to Sasuke. "I won't say anything about this if you don't want me to."

Sakura handed the Uchiha his cloak.

"I don't care," Sasuke replied truthfully.

Kankuro rolled his eyes and led them back to the meeting area. They spent a lot of time discussing a plan.

* * *

The fifteen shinobi stood directly in front of the entrance to the hideout. They were hesitant to enter at first. Sasuke had attempted to activate his Sharingan, but got the same result as the first time. Very slowly, Kakashi led the group at the front, Sasuke at the back. The caves were illuminated by strange large crystals that gave off a dim blue light. All was silent except for the footsteps and breathing of the ninja. Before long, they came to a stop. The main path split into five different paths.

"What do we do now?" Shino asked, barely loud enough to hear.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and looked down each path. "I guess we have no choice. We have to split up."

"This could be a trap," Shikamaru warned.

The Hatake sighed. "I know. We won't be alone though. I'll have us go in groups of three."

Gaara glanced around. "I'm not sure if it will be safe to meet up here once we've completed our second search."

"I agree," the Hokage replied.

Naruto threw his arms into the air. "Well what the heck then?!"

A few signaled for the Uzumaki to calm down. They hadn't planned on there being more than one path. That and no one had confronted them. So far...

Kakashi struggled for a final decision. They let him think on it for quite some time. He eventually stood in front of the group again, looking extremely frustrated. "Alright, I know we didn't plan on this, but we have no choice except split up." He went over some precautions after they were assigned to a group. "Be warned. I don't want any of you letting your guard down."

All of the shinobi nodded and prepared to leave. Kakashi, Lee, and Tenten decided to take the first path on the left. Next to them were Shikamaru, Sai, and Ino. The middle was taken by Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino had next to the end. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had the very last path.

"Good luck," Kakashi said.

They seperated. Team 7 slowly began to make their way through the dimly lit tunnel. Sakura stopped.

"What's wrong?" Naruto inquired.

She nervously looked in all directions.

"Calm down," Sasuke commanded softly, his voice full of concern.

Sakura halted and took a deep breath. "It just feels off. Ever since we came into the caves, I've felt it. Like we're being watched."

Naruto had a serious look on his face. "It definitely feels weird. I tried activating Sage Mode earlier, but I ended up like Sasuke and Hinata."

The Uchiha took a short glance behind them. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. "Not being able to activate my Sharingan or use my Rinnegan is odd. To add to that, none of us can see what's really inside of this place without getting excruciatingly painful throbs in our heads."

Naruto shook his head. "Well, now isn't the time to wonder about everything. We better get moving."

The Uchiha and the Haruno agreed and their slow pace returned. They traveled further and the path remained the same other than a few twists and turns. In that time, Sakura had hesitated to keep moving a couple of instances. Sasuke did not need the help of his clan's kekkei genkai to know that she was terrified. Sure, that feeling of being watched lingered, but was it really scaring her that much? What was different? What had she noticed that the men hadn't?

Naruto halted to inspect a crack in the damp cave wall.

The last member of the Uchiha clan repeatedly stole glances at the medical ninja. Finally, he grew tired of watching her suffer. He grabbed her trembling hand and entwined it with his, giving it a light squeeze before gently rubbing his calloused thumb over it. She stared at him for a minute. He gave her a look that said "relax" and she turned away, attempting to comply with his request.

_"I promise... I won't let them hurt you,"_ Sasuke vowed silently.

* * *

Kurushimi had soundlessly been watching the five groups. His attention had mainly been directed to the last group, the one with Sasuke Uchiha. He smirked when he saw the girl's expression. He listened in on their conversation about being watched. _"Hm... The kunoichi has already figured out that I'm watching everything? Sakura Haruno definitely has a sharp mind. There's no way that they know how I'm doing it though. They're not even positive of that I am doing. Not to worry. My fun is just beginning..."_

* * *

**Author's Note:** I've been waiting to get to this point where they're in the hideout. For now, things will remain peaceful. Thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! By the way, someone asked for my social accounts. I'm not going to say right now, but maybe later. I'll have to think on it. Anyway, what do you guys think of the latest Naruto Gaiden chapter? I think that it was my favorite one so far! Please review!

**OTHER UPDATES **

Family Struggles should be updated by now. Thanks for being patient with me for that update!


	23. Caves

**Author's Note:** I cried tears of joy over the last Naruto Gaiden chapter. That was beautiful. One more thing. Sarada wants to be Hokage! Yes, I am all for that! Anyway, thanks for the reviews, follows, and favorites! Enjoy!

**IMPORTANT UPDATE AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER**

* * *

Team 7 continued to make their way through the caves. Their path was still a narrow tunnel, the crystals lighting the way. Naruto led with Sasuke and Sakura close behind. It'd been perhaps a couple hours since they had split up. The two had held hands the entire time.

Naruto had noticed that his teammates were acting more intimate than usual, but he knew exactly why. The feeling of being watched had grown stronger in his mind since Sakura had mentioned it. The Uzumaki did not think that he was being paranoid, judging by how his friends also felt the presence. It made him wonder how his wife was holding up. What was happening with Hinata and the rest?

Suddenly, Naruto gasped and stopped a few feet ahead of them. Sakura began to tremble again, causing Sasuke to squeeze her hand tighter. "Naruto?" Sasuke questioned, clear on what he wanted to know.

The Uzumaki motioned for them to meet him and they did as he wanted. "The path has gotten bigger." He led them on into the larger area. It had probably doubled in size, not too much of an extension. "You know, I've been thinking about something since we first entered the hideout."

Sasuke smirked. "That's a shock," he muttered.

Naruto huffed and rolled his eyes, trying to focus on his initial thought. "What I mean is, Team 7 is at a huge disadvantage in these caves. Think about it. I can't let Kurama out in here. It's way too small." He pointed to Sasuke. "You can't use Perfect Susano'o either. Heck, half of one wouldn't fit in here." He pointed at Sakura. "If you punch something too hard, it could cause the cave to collapse."

Sasuke and Sakura shared a surprised glance. "Naruto," she began, "since when did you become so... elaborative?"

He chuckled. "I'm full of surprises."

Sasuke frowned. His best friend was right. "So what you're saying is, even if there was room for Susano'o or the Kyuubi, it might cause a collapse either way?"

Naruto nodded.

Sakura laughed at herself. "Great. How am I supposed to fight if I could cause everything to fall apart at any moment?"

Naruto shook his head. "How are any of us supposed to fight? If a move we use causes too much destruction, then you know what'll happen."

Sasuke thought hard about this question. "Don't forget that there's apparently an army down here. They have to have some method of training without making the place crumble. My theory is that it's something Kurushimi is doing."

Sakura had a puzzled expression. "So Kurushimi might be using a jutsu or something else to hold this place up?"

"It's just a theory," Sasuke replied. "We don't even know how frail these caves truly are, but I'd rather not find out."

The others nodded and Naruto began to lead again. Sakura was intently studying everything in the tunnel like area. She had regained her resistance and calmed down, but she was still very cautious. Nothing much had changed while they walked on the path. The only real difference was that the tunnel had gotten slightly larger. She took regular glances behind them. This was all too much for the Haruno to take in. Why was she the only one getting so uptight about the strange presence? It was so abnormal and out of the ordinary to feel like this. Sure, she had gotten feelings of being watched or stalked sometimes, but this was strange. It felt, in the only word she could use to describe it, different.

"This is too quiet for my liking," Naruto said, shattering the silence. "Where's the army?"

"I'd rather avoid the enemy right now," Sakura replied. "We need to know more about what we're up against."

Naruto slowly nodded. "You're right. I wonder how the others are doing."

Sasuke was deep in thought. None of this truly made any sense. _"The first time I had an encounter with Kurushimi, he gave off the impression that he was quite intelligent. What was the point of sending weak ninja and fake Kenshis then? Not only that, but he basically led us to the hideout. Was it intentional or a mistake? I think that he did it on purpose. There's no way a guy like that would make this kind of mistake. This feeling of being watched, it's gotten stronger. I felt something like that even before Sakura mentioned it. I don't understand any of this. And those eyes of his, what is their true power? He said that I had only gotten a sniff of it. He's definitely here though. He prevented us from seeing what was inside. He's trying to keep us from getting a sense of where he and everyone else is. We can't afford to let our guard down, not even for a second."_

"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Hm?"

"You okay?"

"Hn, just pondering," he reassured._ "It's not safe to tell Sakura and Naruto about my thoughts here." _Sasuke's gaze traveled around the entire tunnel. _"Now that I think about it, these tunnels couldn't possibly have gotten this way by themselves. The way they're designed is too unique for it to have been formed on its own."_

Team 7 had stopped moving once more. This time it was because the path had extended its size again. By now, the tunnel was as large as an average house. "I don't know whether or not to consider this suspicious," Naruto explained. "Oh well, as long as no one is attacking us. You guys wanna stop for a minute?"

Sasuke looked to Sakura for an answer. She sighed. "Sure, why not?" She tugged her hand out of the Uchiha's grasp, causing him to feel irritated at the loss. Nonetheless, the male quickly put on a stoic expression. He thoroughly examined the area, looking over every crack or bump. The ground was not entirely flat, rocks or crystals scattered all around. The same was proven true for the walls and ceiling. The only part of the tunnel that appeared to be mostly flat was the main path. It had no distinct features to prove that it was an actual path other than the fact that no crystals or rocks were on the portion of earth. _"It seems that there is a variety of crystal sizes. The first ones I saw when we entered the hideout were large, probably because of how big that area was. When Team 7 started on our path, they were very small, perhaps because the tunnel was quite narrow. So the crystal size depends on how big the current location is. Hm... I'm overthinking. The size only matters because they need to properly light the area. That's probably the most logical thing I've been able to figure out so far though."_ He crouched down and dragged a finger across the cave floor. _"It's cold. Just what you'd expect. I'm right. I really am going overboard with this. I'm thinking way too seriously."_

"Crap! That freakin hurt!" Naruto shouted.

"Keep it down!" Sakura urgently whispered.

Sasuke turned around to see the Uzumaki hopping on one foot, holding the other in his hands. Shifting his gaze downward, the Uchiha caught sight of his best friend's large bag. Apparently, Naruto had dropped it on his toe. "Dobe," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

Naruto carefully put his foot back down and began to walk around in a circle, limping slightly. "It's numb. I'm trying to get the feeling back in it," he explained.

"What in the world is in that bag of yours?" the Haruno questioned.

He chuckled quietly. "Stuff. Don't worry about it."

She rolled her eyes and bit her bottom lip. "I feel a lot better now. You guys ready to go on?"

The two males nodded. Naruto and Sakura started chatting and Sasuke lagged behind them by a couple steps. He had zoned out, not hearing a word of his teammates' conversation. His attention had been captured by one of Sakura's hands dangling by her side. The loss of the warmth caused by their entwined hands was getting to him. _"Make a move Uchiha!"_ he ordered himself. Taking a short glance to make sure that the pair was still occupied, he slowly began to lift his arm. He was definitely growing bolder and more confident in himself, that was for sure. It almost made Sasuke want to praise himself. His hand was about to graze hers.

"I am not scared!" Sakura shouted, speeding up.

Sasuke immediately had a wave of panic rush through him. He retracted his hand with lightning quick reflexes, causing his cloak to flow out behind him. The Uchiha put his head down to hide the red coloring in his cheeks. Did she know what he was trying to do? Did she think that he was only doing it because he thought she was scared?

Sakura twisted around a few feet in front of the boys, walking backwards. "Naruto, did you even listen to me?"

The Uzumaki had been snickering. "Yeah, but I still don't believe you."

She crossed her arms, still facing them as she walked. "Fine. I'll lead then."

Sasuke silently breathed a sigh of relief. Then, his gaze slowly shifted to an oblivious Uzumaki, followed by an ominous glare. Why did he always seem to have perfect timing when it came to Sasuke trying to make a move? _"Naruto..."_

The whiskered male somehow sensed the agression coming towards him and he twisted his head around, one eyebrow raised. Sasuke was shooting daggers at his best friend. Naruto chuckled knowingly. "You want me to make her come back here so you won't be lonely?" he asked, not loud enough for Sakura to hear.

Sasuke bit back a very harsh reply.

Naruto shook his head. "Are you two dating yet?"

"No, and you're the main cause as to why we're not."

"Oh, so you DO have the hots for Sakura, eh? I knew it," Naruto responded with a sense of victory.

"Can you just stay out of it?" Sasuke spat.

Naruto frowned. "I've heard that's what you keep telling everyone to do. Yet you still haven't told Sakura, have you?"

The Uchiha kept his silence.

Naruto turned his gaze in front of him again. Surprisingly, the Uzumaki was also soundless, not bothering to utter another word.

* * *

"Hey leader," Naruto began, "can we take a break?"

Sakura turned around with an annoyed expression. "Yes. You better watch it Naruto." She stopped speaking to show off a wide smirk. "In fact, you and Sasuke both should be careful. I am the oldest of us after all so you better show me some respect."

"You're older than us by a few months!" Naruto angrily shouted.

_"Sakura's older than me?"_ Sasuke thought. "_Oh, right. She told me that once. I should listen more... Now that I think about it, how much do I really know about her? I don't have the right to complain though, since I haven't told her a lot."_ He let a smirk crawl onto his features. "Hn, I guess that since I'm second oldest that makes me second in command. That makes you powerless Naruto. No different than usual."

"When did we decide that age makes a difference?! So what if you guys are a little older than me?!" the Uzumaki complained.

"Chill out," Sakura moaned. "We're just joking. At least, I am." She pivoted on her heel to face the front once again. "Anyway, I think I see another opening. The tunnel gets bigger again."

They made their way into the new section of the caves. Team 7 stopped and studied the new environment. This time, the cave had extended much more than it had the last few times. Pillars, large enough to hide behind, were positioned at a short distance away from each other. This area appeared to be a room of some sort, also having small rises in the ground. Some of the rises formed miniature cliffs. Sakura jumped on top of one and sat down, letting her legs dangle off the side. "You two just gonna stand there?"

Naruto huffed, apparently still upset, before going to sit beside her.

"I'll be there in a minute," Sasuke excused himself. He traveled to one of the pillars furthest away from the others. He put a hand on its damp surface and leaned his back against it for a moment. Closing his eyes and steadying his breathing, the Uchiha focused only on the task at hand. Slowly, he let his eyes open, the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan shifting into place along with allowing his Rinnegan to blaze, the bandana keeping his bangs out of the way. His lips seperated slightly at the outcome. He felt no pain in his head or anywhere else._ "That's odd. What was the point of preventing me to use my eyes if m-?" _He stopped dead in his tracks. The Uchiha had twisted his head around to face his teammates. What had halted him was not when he saw them; they looked fine in his vision, being fully capable of seeing their chakra networks. The real problem was that Naruto was holding a rock. Why was that? Well, the Uzumaki had been tossing it in front of him. Every time he did so, it kept Sasuke from seeing the part of his chakra network it was thrown in front of. _"A simple pebble can block my-...?!"_

"Sasuke," Sakura started, noticing the look on his face, "your eyes-"

"One of you go stand behind a pillar!" Sasuke commanded urgently.

Naruto and Sakura shared a confused glance. She stood up and jumped off of the small cliff. The medic took a peek at Sasuke before walking to stand behind a pillar.

The Uchiha gasped. He couldn't see her chakra network at all. It had been fine until she had begun to step behind it. _"I know that I can't see through every object, but THIS is blocking my sight?!" _

Sakura curiously glanced out from behind the mass of earth. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke quickly turned his attention to the entrance of the tunnel they were heading to after their break, then back to the one they had just come from. "Even with my eyes as they are now, I can only see what's directly in front of my vision."

Sakura gasped and sat beside Naruto again. "So, you can't use them at their full power?"

He nodded.

Naruto scratched his head. "Well, at least you can use them a little. You won't be dragging me and Sakura down."

"Is everything a joke to you?!" Sasuke shouted.

Sakura butted in before they could go at it. "Both of you calm down! This is only a short break before we keep moving so we need to take this time and relax."

The males reluctantly obeyed.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto sat in a corner of the cave. It was the second day they had been inside the hideout. The first had gone smoothly. The tunnels had become nearly identical in size for the rest of the day after they had ended their break. Team 7 had finally found another section as big as the other room to rest in late at night. Now, they were up and eating breakfast. Sakura had one corner to herself, making them leave on account of her wanting to think in peace and quiet.

Sasuke was mindlessly staring at his attractive teammate. Naruto had obviously noticed, as he was chuckling at a low volume.

"What?" the Uchiha asked.

His laughing grew louder. "I just think it's funny that I beat you out in something like this."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

The Uzumaki sighed, a smile creeping its way to his lips. "When I realized I loved Hinata, I went right up to her and said it. What's been keeping you from telling Sakura?"

Sasuke rested his elbow on a knee, putting his hand under his chin. "I've tried, but..."

Naruto nearly choked on the water he had just attempted to gulp down. When he settled down, he was literally rolling on the floor laughing. "No way! No freakin way!" He calmed himself and sat up, leaning closer to his best friend. He put a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered, "You chickened out, didn't you?"

Sasuke shoved Naruto away. No reply.

Naruto elbowed his friend in the ribs. "I could give you some advice."

"Why should I take any advice from you?" Sasuke replied venomously.

The male sighed for a second time. "Where have you gotten by handling it yourself?"

A frown. "I'll listen, but that doesn't mean I think it'll be good advice."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Okay, so you know that Sakura has had feelings for you a while now. And you're positive that you feel the same?"

"Hn."

"It's about dang time," Naruto muttered under his breath. He cleared his throat and continued. "So it's as simple as this. I didn't do it like this, but it's still easy. You go up to her, tell her you need to talk to her in private. Are you listening?"

"Get on with it," Sasuke responded impatiently.

A huff. "So you say this. We've known each other for a long time now, blah blah blah. More blah blah blah. I love you. Then you make out and happy ending."

Sasuke was unmoved. "Blah blah blah? How am I supposed to take that seriously?"

"You get my point don't you? Just tell her that you feel the same way and that you love her."

Sasuke peered at his best friend from the corner of his eye. "Do you think telling the girl that's loved you for years, the girl you've almost killed, the girl you've put through so much pain that you love her is a simple task?"

Naruto slapped his back. "Lighten up will ya! That's all in the past. You need to move on."

"Easy for you to say."

Naruto's expression softened. "Look, tell me what's worse. The fear of telling her how you feel, or hurting her even more by not telling her because you're stuck in the past?"

Sasuke looked away.

Naruto glimpsed at Sakura. "I'm pretty sure you've heard about a guy named Toneri?"

The Uchiha nodded. When Kakashi had called on him to speak about some changes to the village and things of the sort, Toneri Otsutsuki had been a big subject.

Naruto's voice was filled with both seriousness and sorrow. "When I tried to tell Hinata how I felt about her, he came along. She left with him and I went after them. He beat me. The last thing I remembered is Hinata in Toneri's arms."

Silence filled their corner.

"Sasuke, don't make the mistake I did and wait too long. I was severely injured and it took Sakura a while to heal me. After that she had exhausted herself. To be honest, I almost gave up. But I talked with her. She said something that really hit me."

Sasuke waited.

Naruto let a saddened smile make its way onto his features. "Tch, she said that it was about time I realized that I loved Hinata. Then, she talked about you and that's where this comes in. Sakura said, and I quote, 'When a girl truly falls in love, her feelings don't change that easily.' That really helped me get my confidence back."

Sasuke was speechless. He knew that Sakura would wait for him as long as she had to.

"Just remember what I said and don't wait too long. You know what, I can't take it anymore! Go and get your girl man! You really need a girlfriend if you wanna accomplish certain goals."

Sasuke smirked. "Soon."

Naruto groaned. "How soon?"

"I don't know. But sometime soon."

* * *

Kurushimi leaned back in his chair, head resting on the top. _"I'm in the middle of a romantic drama. Oh well, that just gives me more to use against you Sasuke. Maybe I'll let you sort this out with Sakura before I kill you. It depends on which would cause you more pain. Speaking of pain, I should continue with my plans soon. Hm... I need to make this a little more enjoyable. I have to wait for them to get to a certain section though. In fact, I need to wait until all of the groups are at a suitable spot."_

"So they're here?" someone asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Kurushimi stopped watching the five groups and twisted around in his chair. Kenshi was staring at him with a bored expression, his arms crossed.

The swordsman exhaled slowly. "You've been sitting in here for a while and haven't said anything. I knew something was up."

Kurushimi was unfazed. "Yes, they are here."

"Do you want us to do something?" Kenshi questioned indifferently, referring to himself and the army.

"No. Don't say a word about this yet. I'm about to put my plan into action." He smirked. "If you want, I could give you a play by play. It's not as fun as what I'm planning for later on, but torture is still involved."

Kenshi looked as if he hadn't heard. "No thanks. Just tell me if you need me to go after them or whatever." He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Kurushimi had a bewildered expression. _"Kenshi has been acting like this for quite some time now. Hm, must be because he won't be able to see and hear what's really happening. Oh well, I have to get back to work. The timing needs to be perfect if I want to attack all of them at once. That and I want to seperate the last group. It'll be a lot more fun that way. Hopefully they seperate how I want. I just need to watch and listen right now."_

* * *

Naruto yawned as loudly as he possibly could, stretching at the same time. Team 7 was in a cave room larger than all the others they had been in. It had almost the exact same appearance except size. The crystals, pillars, and uneven ground were nearly a copy. Sakura was leading again. She stopped. "Naruto, I promise we can quit for the night soon. Look over there," she pointed.

The two men turned their attention to where she was pointing. There was a hole large enough for a fully grown bear to fit through. It was a couple feet off the ground. Inside appeared to be another path, nearly the same as Team 7's. Naruto's tired eyes widened. "Great! Does this mean we're gonna have to split up again?!"

Sakura sighed impatiently. "No. This is our assigned path. Besides, that's where Hinata, Shino, and Kiba and Akamaru were heading. They might have been through there already." She looked at the entrance to a new section of tunnel directly in front of them. "Hey, I can see another room down that tunnel. We can stop there for tonight."

"Fine," the Uzumaki moaned.

* * *

Kurushimi hardly suppressed a laugh of pleasure._ "Finally. The kunoichi is in front and the Uchiha is following close behind. Perfect. I can split them how I want now. All of the other groups have stopped for the night. Time to put phase one of this part of my plan into action."_

* * *

Sasuke glanced upwards as they entered the narrow tunnel. This time it was only as wide as the first one they had encountered, except the roof of the tunnel being much higher. He narrowed his eyes. _"Something isn't right." _He looked at the others. _"I'm the only one that's noticed."_ Sakura was about ten feet away from the next room, Sasuke close behind, Naruto at the back. Sasuke looked up again. A small shuffle. The Uchiha's eyes widened. "Sakura!"

Naruto shifted his gaze forward in surprise as Sasuke began to run. The last thing he saw before stumbling backwards and falling was the Uchiha tackling the Haruno. The cave ceiling in front of him had collapsed.

* * *

Sakura coughed before slowly opening her eyes. She felt someone on top of her. Warm breath continued to softly hit her neck over and over. Her vision finally cleared and she turned her head to see the ends of dark hair sticking out of a bandana. Sakura twisted her head again to look in front of her, or in this case up. A purple rib cage had put itself between the two ninja and massive rocks that had fallen. She gasped. The purple began to disappear. The kunoichi urgently looked to the male on top of her. He had his eyes closed and blood streaking across his face, unconscious. Her hand hit something hard and she knew immediately what had happened. Sasuke had shielded her from from the falling rocks, but one had found its way through the Susano'o before it had completely formed, hitting Sasuke hard enough to knock him out.

Sasuke felt someone shaking him. He was only partially conscious and everything was black._ "O-Oh, its b-because my eyes... are c-closed."_ With this, he forced his mismatched eyes to open. His head was throbbing painfully and his ears were filled with relentless pounding. He slowly raised up. _"What's Sakura doing underneath me? She looks like she's trying to tell me something, but all I can hear is this horrible throbbing."_

"Sasuke! Are you listening to me?!" Sakura shouted desperately. She knew that her cries for help were falling on deaf ears. The purple rib cage of the Susano'o was continuing to slowly disappear. The pink headed kunoichi quickly put a hand against a large boulder about to break through the opening, forcing chakra to her hand in order to keep it up. Sasuke's eyes were half closed and he was staring at her.

Sasuke distinctly remembered the words "Sakura" and "girlfriend" from a conversation he had recently. _"Oh, she's my girlfriend. We must be on a date. This is a strange place for one, but okay."_ Her voice was becoming clearer to him, but he still couldn't catch any actual words. He wasn't listening anyway, too mesmerized by how attractive she was. "Your lips look very... soft..."

Sakura blushed as he started to lean down._ "What is he doing?! He's REALLY out of it!" _She turned her head to the side and shoved his face away with her free hand. "As much as I'd love to kiss you Sasuke, we're in a life or death situation here!"

He laughed drunkenly. "What're you talking about Sakura? Everything's fine. I'm just trying to kiss my girlfriend." He attempted to move her hand aside and bend down again, but she pushed against his face with more force.

_"Girlfriend?! How hard did that rock hit him?! Sorry Sasuke, but I'd rather kiss you when you actually know what's happening around you! Ugh, don't make me do this!"_ She waited for him to come to his senses, but nothing changed. _"I guess I have no choice!" _She withdrew the hand pressing on his face and slapped his cheek as hard as she could without using chakra. It left a large red handprint behind.

The pounding in Sasuke's ears had finally stopped. Instead, it was replaced by a stinging sensation in his cheek. His mind processed what events had just gone down and the words that had escaped his lips, making him turn red to match the handprint.

"Worry about THAT later!" Sakura exclaimed. "If we don't do something fast, we'll be crushed!"

Sasuke looked up at her hand positioned on the rock. The rib cage started to come back. "Move your hand," he said as it surrounded her fingers. She did as he ordered and removed her hand, sighing in relief. The Uchiha studied their surroundings and noticed a small hole outside of the Susano'o, directly behind Sakura's head. "Don't move until I say so." She nodded. He carefully let Susano'o form both arms and hold the rock that was in their way up high enough for them to crawl out. "Go." Sakura shuffled her way out through the hole. Sasuke cautiously moved with the rib cage closer to his body. He let the protection fade away as soon as he was out. Sakura pulled him to the side when some rocks at the top fell from the sudden movement at the bottom.

"You okay?" Sasuke inquired.

"Yeah," she said, standing up. "Naruto! Naruto, are you alright?!"

On the other side, the Uzumaki was fanning dust away from his face, coughing. When it cleared, he scrambled to his feet and stopped at the wall of rocks that had formed. "Sakura! I'm fine! What about you and Sasuke?!"

"We're okay!"

"Well, what do we do now?! I can use Rasengan to blast these rocks outta the way!"

Sasuke spoke up. "No! You'll end up injuring us or yourself! You might even cause another collapse!"

Naruto stomped his foot. "How am I supposed to get to you guys then?!"

Sakura looked around for anything that could be of use. "Sorry Naruto! I'm not sure how to help!"

The whiskered male's gaze caught the hole in the wall that led to another section of the caves. "What if I go and meet up with Hinata's team?! Will you guys be okay?!"

The Haruno glanced at Sasuke for an answer. He dipped his head, signaling a yes. "It's fine Naruto! Stay safe!"

"You too!" he replied before speeding off.

Sakura's attention went to Sasuke, who was lying down and resting his head on an inclined rock. She crouched beside him and pulled his bandana off, examining the gash on his head. "Thanks for protecting me."

"Hn. I think I might pass out again."

"Please don't. I don't know if I can handle, THAT, again," she replied shakily.

"Sorry, I was... out of it."

She was silent while she grabbed a small towel out of her bag, gently wiping away the blood that was streaked across his face. He soundlessly stared at her when she began to heal the wound on his head. _"I promise... Soon, when we're not like this, when we can have an actual moment together, when we're not worried about what the enemy's next move is."_

"I'm done," she said, retracting her hands.

"Hn, thanks."

She nodded. "We should get some rest and talk things out in the morning."

"Yeah..." Sasuke did not bother resisting the urge to sleep.

* * *

Kurushimi closed his eyes, a wicked smile creeping its way onto his lips. _"Phase one in this part of my plan is complete. I've seperated Team 7 the way I wanted. Now Sasuke and Sakura are alone. Naruto and Hinata being together gives me a bonus. Having the couples with each will make this a lot more fun. It seems Naruto Uzumaki has successfully found his way to his wife's group. All of the ninja are asleep."_ The smile grew wider. His eyes shot open. _"And I have a clear view of every last one of them!" _The black pupils and rings in his eyes began to glow.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes flew open. He immediately screamed in pain. He heard Sakura do the same. Before they knew it, everything went dark.

* * *

"Wake up sleepy heads!" Sakura said.

_"Sakura?"_ Sasuke thought groggily._ "Why did she say it like she was speaking to more than one person?"_

"C'mon love birds! I don't like to be kept waiting!" Sasuke shouted impatiently.

_"That's my voice... What's going on?"_ the Uchiha thought, completely confused. He opened his eyes to discover that he was loosely tied to something, or someone. He heard Sakura stir against his back. They were apparently tied together, but who was speaking beside them? They had their exact voices.

"They're about to wake up," the person with Sasuke's voice said.

"Gee, I couldn't tell," the person with Sakura's voice spat back. "It's about time. I'm ready for some action."

Sasuke heard the real Sakura gasp. His vision cleared and he turned to look at the speakers. He gasped just as his teammate had. Standing in front of them, were none other than, themselves?! Their appearances matched the two real Team 7 members' perfectly.

The fake Sasuke smirked. "Surprise."

The fake Sakura laughed. "We were beginning to wonder if you two would ever wake up. We've been a little lonely."

The rope holding the real Sasuke and Sakura together loosened and fell down.

Both of the fakes towered over the real ones. They spoke in unison. "Let's play..."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I know, I'm really mean for leaving a cliffhanger like this. Also, I'm not the best at describing things, but I tried. Please review!

**IMPORTANT UPDATE**

I'm afraid that I have some POSSIBLE bad news. I have band camp coming up really soon and I won't have much time to write at all for those couple of weeks. Updates might not be out for the next few weeks because of that. I'm trying to get ahead on writing though, so there's a chance I will be able to update during that time.

**OTHER UPDATES**

I've already started writing chapter four for Family Struggles. That will probably be out next week.


	24. Unexpected Battle

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long wait. Anyway, here it is, so enjoy!

* * *

_"All of this has gone perfectly so far,"_ Kurushimi thought to himself, a wicked smile plastered to his features. He could see each member of the five groups from all angles. _"You're all in a rough position at the moment. Fight yourselves, your comrades, and the ones you love. Either that or refuse to do so. It's your choice. Although, I'd prefer if you didn't disappoint by giving up. Now, entertain me..."_ A wicked laugh filled the room.

Unknown to the male, a certain swordsman was right outside by the closed door. Kenshi was staring at the floor with his arms crossed, leaning his back against the wall for support. _"Kurushimi is losing it. Ever since all of THAT happened, he was never the same again. But now we have the last Uchiha where we want him and it'll all be over once he's dealt with. Where will we go from there? What will we do? Over time, I've lost the need I've had to kill the Uchiha. I should want to, but... Hmph, Kurushimi is right, I'm letting those brats influence me."_ He pushed off the wall and began walking to no where in particular._ "You will pay for your clan's sins, Sasuke Uchiha. If you're not careful, so will your friends. I'll make you watch them scream. I'll force you to look as I kill HER. I'll let you suffer and hear their pleas and crys for mercy. The scene will be much worse than what happened to us back then. That, I can promise you..."_

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura stared in complete shock and horror at their copies. They were clearly amused, jeering and laughing at the real ones. The imposter Sakura grabbed the real medic's collar and threw her across the entire length of the cave.

"Sak-!" The Uchiha had been forced to halt his speech, having been kicked in the jaw. The force of the kick sent him sailing into the cave wall. He groaned as he crawled to his feet, staring at his counterpart.

"Kid, I'm your worst nightmare," the fake warned, smirking and twirling his chokuto around.

Sasuke let his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan shift into place, unsheathing his chokuto. _"We're fighting ourselves?! What's going on?! How did this happen?!"_ A lightbulb went off. _"Perhaps, genjutsu?"_ He tried to release it, but nothing changed.

A laugh. "You think this an illusion?!" The other male was cackling so hard he had to sheathe his blade. The moment he became silent, the man disappeared.

Sasuke gasped. _"I lost him?!"_ An instant later, he had a hand clenched tightly around his throat. The Uchiha was picked up a foot off the ground and slammed into the damp rock of the cave wall.

"I can assure you," the imposter Sasuke seethed, "that this is very real."

Struggling to breathe, the trapped male quickly copied the view of the environment with his Sharingan for future purposes. This room was the biggest one he had seen so far. There were fewer pillars and they were off to the sides. The ground and walls were uneven and had many places bulging out, almost suggesting that the area had purposefully been designed for a battle._ "I wouldn't put it past someone like Kurushimi. Now isn't the time to think about that though." _He turned his ominous gaze to the fake who had a hand around his neck. _"It's funny. It seems like he's forgotten that I'm holding my chokuto."_ Finishing his final thought, Sasuke sliced at his attacker's arms, causing the male to release his grip entirely.

The imposter Sasuke brushed dirt off his long sleeves. "Hn, you almost got me. Heh heh heh, I'm basically underestimating MYSELF!" A large, sadistic smile settled on his lips. His right eye took on a blood red coloring. "Let's really fight! With the same abilities, it's time to see which of us is truly the best!" His hand filled with lightning.

The real Sasuke kept his eyes locked on the other as he sheathed his sword. The chirping of a thousand birds filled the entire cave system. They launched themselves at each other and clashed.

* * *

Sakura's eyes fluttered open. She shielded them when a bright flash nearly blinded her. After it was gone, she replayed memories in her mind, attempting to comprehend everything that had just occurred. Feet dangled in her face from the ledge directly above where she lay sprawled out. "I wonder which Sasucakes will win."

The medic narrowed her eyes in confusion while rubbing the back of her head. _"Sasucakes?"_ The moment she remembered recent events at the beginning of their battle, her eyes shot wide open. The feet disappeared and her ears caught the small shuffle that meant they were now on the ledge above her head.

"I shouldn't be asking you though, seeing as how you won't live to see it!"

Smash!

The ledge seperated into a million pieces, all launched down towards Sakura's body. The kunoichi did her best to minimize the damage. Before she knew it, the pink haired woman was buried underneath the rubble.

The lookalike was laughing her head off at the sight. "Too easy! I never imagined MYSELF as being so hopelessly weak!"

The real Sakura angrily pushed one hand out of the rubble, slamming it on top of the pile. A few seconds later, she had managed to pull all of her upper body out. "You need to watch what you say around me," she breathed. A smirk crept its way onto her lips. "You of all people should know very well what happens when I get angry!" Forcing chakra to her hands, the ecstatic kunoichi pulled herself out of the loose earth and ran at full speed towards her clone.

The imposter immediately stopped laughing and gasped in surprise. She barely dodged a chakra filled punch, stumbling from the effort.

_"Gotcha!"_ Sakura thought with satisfaction. She pivoted on one heel, elbowing her opponent sharply in the head. Smirking with delight, Sakura watched herself fly into the air and...

Poof! The imposter was gone.

The Haruno narrowed her eyes._ "It was THAT easy? No, wait-" _Her breathing hitched at the realization. Quickly turning around, she was met by a flash and a kunai knife sinking into her shoulder. Falling to one knee, she didn't have any time to react as a hail storm of kunai and shuriken rained down on her. Crawling aside to escape the first few, the kunoichi gathered enough strength to jump out of the way and land at a safe distance away from her opponent.

"I can't wait to kill you!" the other woman spat. "When I take over as the REAL Sakura Haruno, I'll have Sasucakes all to myself!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and examined the kunai buried in her arm. Rumbling and flashing came from Sasuke's direction. Her copy continued.

"Besides, I would never be a hindrance to my comrades."

She was about to attempt to remove the weapon. Her hand stopped in midair when those words had come out of well, her, mouth.

The enemy smirked with pleasure, knowing that she had hit a soft spot. "You know it as well as I do. You've always been a burden to everybody. Helpless little Sakura, always relying on everyone else to do the work for her. The only reason she joined the academy in the first place was to get close to Sasucakes. All you did back then was get in his way. Even now, that's all you can do."

"Shut up!" Sasuke yelled from nearby. He was currently in a taijutsu battle with himself. The real one that had shouted was pinned face first against a pillar, too distracted by the women's brawl to attempt a counterattack. His opposite was paying quite a bit of attention to them as well. "Sakura, don't listen to her! I've-!"

"Sasuke..." Sakura said, barely loud enough for the rest of the shinobi to hear. She slowly moved to her feet, bangs hiding her facial expression. Everyone gasped in unison when she looked up to reveal a gigantic smirk. The medic made a fist and lightly punched her palm, closing it over the fist. "I didn't plan on listening. You know Sasuke, you're right... I am pretty annoying sometimes!" As soon as the words left her lips, Sakura sped towards her attacker with great determination.

Her clone looked to be unfazed. "You really think that you can beat yourself? No, let me rephrase that," she said, reaching into her bag and placing shuriken in between each of her fingers. "I'm even better than the original!" All of the weapons were thrown at their target.

Sakura pulled the kunai out of her arm without wincing. She dodged or blocked every shuriken without losing a single step. _"I can't lose now! Time to really push my limits!" _With her last thought, confidence surged through the kunoichi.

The fake sighed and put a hand on her hip. "Fighting myself is such a pain..." For a brief instant, she closed her eyes. As soon as they opened, she was met with a fist to her nose. She screamed and flew backwards, smashing through a pillar and landing roughly into the cave wall.

Sakura grinned in satisfaction as she watched the crash, hunching over in an attempt to catch her breath. _"I didn't know I could go that fast... Guess you find out a lot of things when you fight yourself."_ She launched herself high off the ground and got ready to strike her opponent once again.

* * *

Sasuke smirked with pride when he heard another crash and shout, signaling that Sakura had landed her second attack. He grunted when the man pinning him to the pillar pushed his knee further into his back.

"You're overprotective," he whispered into his ear. "You should be worried about yourself right now because it looks like she's doing better than you."

Sasuke managed to get out of the copy's hold and put him in a headlock. He jerked forward to have the other's head slam into a sharp edge on the pillar. He fell to the ground, holding his head and cursing up a storm.

Sasuke took the opportunity to escape onto a high ledge on the other side of the room. The Uchiha crouched down and shuffled into a narrow crack in the wall, panting and looking at his wounds. None were serious, but he had taken a couple of nasty cuts from the other Sasuke's chokuto. He had done damage to the lookalike, but fighting an opponent with the exact same abilities as you is a tough challenge. He glanced around the tiny hiding spot. The only thing that was there besides him was a large crystal in the center. He could hear rumbling and feel the ground tremor, probably from the fight with the Sakuras. _"How are we going to beat ourselves? They have the same abilities."_ Sasuke replayed some of the memories of the fight he had saved with the Sharingan. His opposite was only able to use part of his dojutsu's powers, just like him. _"Something's off though. He seemed completely oblivious that I held my chokuto in the beginning of our fight. Also, he's been that way throughout our battle, which means he's not as, aware, as I am."_ He watched more of their fight. _"His speed doesn't match mine either. Does that mean that they aren't true copies?"_

Smash!

Sasuke exhaled sharply as a gigantic purple fist broke through the wall and wrapped itself around his body, restricting any movement. Gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut in pain, Sasuke felt the hand pull him out of his hiding spot, crushing the crystal in the process.

The lookalike was standing on the wall next to the hole, blood rushing out of the new wound on his head. "You think smashing my head against a pillar is funny, eh? Let me return the favor!" With this, the Susano'o flung the real Uchiha down across the room.

Sasuke slammed headfirst into one of the pillars. His vision blurred and darkened for a moment. He was lying under what was left of the pillar's top half. A shield of purple had partly formed during his fall, probably saving him from more serious injuries. Nonetheless, blood ran into and around his eyes, followed by agonizing pain throughout his entire body. _"H-How did he kn-know where I was? If we r-really have the same abilities, then he sh-shouldn't have seen my chakra n-network..."_ Anger and determination surged through the disgruntled Uchiha.

Someone towered over him and grabbed the front of his collar. The purple and red of both the Sharingan and Rinnegan clashed with each other in a blazing fury. The attacker with a wicked smile and the original Uchiha gritting his teeth in fury. The male above him glanced at the battling kunoichi. "I should kill you quick and then beat your Sakura. Don't worry, I'll let her live. Then, I'll tell her how you really felt and she will be mine."

Sasuke quickly returned the favor and grasped the male's collar with an iron grip. "Don't you dare touch her!"

The other leaned closer. "Who's gonna stop me?! It's obviously not gonna be you. Do you wanna know why we've been kicking your butts senseless? It's because we are your opposites. We may look like exactly like you, but that's very misleading. See, unlike you, I'm basically the older, better version. The cold, ruthless, murderous Sasuke Uchiha. And Sakura? Her 'counterpart' has the same ideas and objectives as me. That is, to torture our originals and cause terror."

"That's your objective?" Sasuke questioned. _"So, they're just playing with us?!"_ He was growing more livid by the second.

A laugh. "Don't forget what I said about taking Sakura for myself. That opposite thing helps me a lot because I can tell her how you feel without hesitation. Or," the wicked smile grew wider, "I can break her heart. It's not like you haven't done it before."

Sasuke's resistance broke. "SHUT UP!" He pushed his clone off of him and performed the fireball jutsu with lightning quick speed, not giving the other a chance to breathe. Most of his arm was burnt by the fire and he howled in pain, but was shortly silenced when the real Sasuke kicked his midsection, undoubtedly breaking some ribs. Already having the wind knocked out of him, the copy was met with a punch to the jaw, the force of the punch sending him sailing.

Sasuke shook his wrist. "Amaterasu!"

The imposter barely dodged the black flames in time. His response was sending black flames flying towards the original, which he extinguished without twitching. "How did you-?!"

"Are you really this naive?" Sasuke inquired with a smirk. _"It appears my theory about them not being true copies was correct. Even an amateur could decipher the obvious fact. We have the same eyes and powers, which means I can easily put my own flames out."_ He cracked his knuckles. "Now, it's my turn." He watched his lookalike crawl backwards in an attempt to escape. _"I'll never let you near Sakura..."_

* * *

Sakura sliced at her opponent with chakra scalpels. Her copy managed to dodge the first swipe, but the second hit. She jolted back and screamed. "You little..." She recklessly lunged at Sakura.

The real Sakura had just gotten control of the battle again. At this point, she was wondering what it would take to ensure her victory. She had continually worried about how Sasuke was doing. One thing that bothered her a lot though, why had her opponent not taken the chances she had been given to heal herself? Even though the real Sakura had been losing the fight, she had still given the other some damage. That included a large slash across her side that had not stopped bleeding. In fact, she repeatedly held the wound or grunted in pain.

Sakura blocked a punch and caught sight of her lookalike's wounds again. _"Does she think that she's going to last long enough? Or is she too prideful? Wait, maybe... Can she even heal at all?"_ She was so distracted by the thought that she almost earned a knee to the gut. _"I have to focus! Even when she's injured, her attacks are quite powerful."_ The fake missed an uppercut and Sakura took the opportunity to send her foot into the other's side where the large slash was located. She was sent flying into the cave wall, screaming a number of profanities. Sakura leapt far away from her and found a good hiding spot to catch her breath. She was behind a pillar close to a corner of the cave, the only thing in front of her except the wall was a small crystal. The Haruno quickly healed some of her wounds and peeked to the side to see that her counterpart was still on the ground, huffing and panting. The medic breathed a sigh of relief because she knew there was no way her opponent realized where she was.

"Why are you trying so hard Uchiha?! You can't save anyone! Not even yourself!" the fake Sasuke cackled.

The real one skidded to a stop near Sakura's hiding place. She was watching them soundlessly, making sure she was entirely out of the other kunoichi's view. There was a series of purple flashes as the two males battled it out with the swords of their Susano'o. She studied the fight and noticed that something was off about the imposter Uchiha. Sakura couldn't describe it well, but he wasn't as say, skilled, as the real Sasuke. She closed her eyes and rested her head on the damp rock of the pillar.

Bam!

She fell to the ground with debris from the newly broken pillar landing around and on top of her. The Sasukes had brought their fight to a couple feet away from the women. Sakura felt a foot pressing against her skull and glanced up to see, herself?! She was astonished. How could she have possibly known where she was? The copy seemed to notice her shock as she leaned down. "We can see everything!" she announced, grabbing Sakura's leg. A smoke bomb was thrown by the original Sasuke as he disappeared in the concealment. The kunoichi was thrown across the cave, seeing Sasuke hit the wall she was about to smash into. Gritting her teeth and groaning as her back hit, Sakura fell into a small hole located directly in the earth below her.

Sasuke had the wind knocked out of him when Sakura landed on top of his aching body. They were now beneath the main part of the cave, or the battle area. He was resisting the urge to writhe in pain. The Uchiha had fallen on the large crystal that had been placed right under the opening to the small hole in the floor. He felt the broken pieces piercing his back and gritted his teeth. When he had first landed and hit the shards, a tiny burst of something ran through him. It was familiar, but not the feel of the burst. Before the light to the shattered shards of crystal had disappeared, he had seen one do something that made it look extremely familiar.

"I'm sorry," Sakura breathed in his ear, attempting to get up.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he grabbed both of her wrists, rolling over so he was on top of her. Medium sized rocks pelted his back. They were falling because they had been seperated from the wall after the impacts of both shinobi slamming into it. After it was over, most of their bodies were covered in the pile. Sasuke collapsed on top of her, gasping for air and squeezing his eyes shut from pain.

"Sasuke-!"

"Be quiet!" he breathed into her ear while throwing his cloak over what was visible of the rest of their bodies. He slapped one hand over her mouth and copied the action on himself. They were silent and unmoving for a few seconds, Sakura wondering what the problem was.

"You idiot!" the other Sasuke yelled. "Why did you throw her after the area was filled with smoke?!"

"You're calling me an idiot?!" the fake Sakura shouted back. "Who's the one that let their opponent use the smoke bomb?!"

"Just shut up and keep searching! I can't see them anywhere!"

The ninja under the Uchiha furrowed her brow. _"They're looking for us?"_ She recalled her counterpart's words from earlier. _"She said that they could see everything... Is it because we're under these rocks and Sasuke's cloak? No, they had enough time to see us before all of that happened. Then what-?"_

"Go down there and see if they're hiding!" Sakura ordered.

"Why me?!" Sasuke spat back.

"If you don't, then I'll throw you down there!"

He grumbled and cursed under his breath while stepping to look in the hole. Sasuke and Sakura heard him drop down and land with his feet on either side of their heads. They held their breath and made every effort not to move a muscle. The male above them scanned the area, not bothering to move his position. Finally, he looked up through the hole where the other Haruno stood. "They aren't down here!"

"What?!"

He huffed in annoyance. "I SAID, TH-!"

"I heard what you said you baka!"

He growled and jumped out of the hole. The pair moved away, still arguing and shouting at full volume. Sasuke shoved the cloak off of their heads and tried to shuffle off of Sakura the best he could with all the rubble on top of them. She pushed every rock away and made Sasuke lay on his side, studying his wounds. He moaned quietly at the pain in his back. The Uchiha could feel the blood sliding across his skin and gathering against the edges of the shards.

"We don't have t-time to heal r-right now," he croaked.

"Then what are we supposed to do? We're both injured and one of us can't beat them alone," she replied urgently.

_"We're both injured and one of us can't beat them alone," _he repeated in his mind. Sasuke gasped. "Sakura, I have an idea."

"Tell me while I take some of these out and heal the wounds," she responded.

He nodded and began to explain. "Have the opposite Sakura's abilities or personality traits been somewhat different?"

"Yes," she replied curiously while gently pulling part of his shirt up.

"The other Sasuke's awareness is significantly lower than my own," he began. That was followed by a grunt when she extracted one of the biggest shards from his back. "Anyway, his intelligence is also at a disadvantage. There are more things to add, but my point is, they aren't exact copies."

A green glow emitted from her hands. "My counterpart appears not to have the healing ability. The things you mentioned also apply to her. But, she said that they could see everything. Obviously, that was a lie if they couldn't find us down here."

"Worry about that later. If they can't see us down here, then we'll use it our advantage. My plan is really simple. Since they aren't perfect copies, I think it will work."

"Think?" Sakura asked while examining another shard embedded in his skin.

His teeth clenched tightly together while she extracted it. "If their intelligence and awareness really is as low as I presume, then we can take both of them out with one move."

Sakura gasped and tugged his shirt down after making sure that the worst wounds had been healed. "A single attack?"

He nodded and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Here's the plan."

Sakura listened to every detail while gazing at a wound on his head.

* * *

The fake Sakura threw large rocks left and right while searching in the pile for their enemy. It had recently been broken by her after finding her hiding original. Her partner was currently looking at the section he had recklessly torn apart earlier, a large hole present where the arm of the Susano'o had broken through.

"Where the heck could they possibly be?!" he screamed in frustration. Sakura saw him kick a rock as big as a head through the opening.

"No clue," she responded. "The only places they could be are-"

Whoosh!

She covered her face when a strong gust of wind hit her body. Sasuke hid behind the cover of the cave wall. They both looked in the direction of the disturbance and gasped. The real Sasuke and Sakura stood in the middle of the cave, back to back.

Sasuke's counterpart laughed, his voice echoing throughout the cave from his high position. "Revealing yourselves to us? Ha! The 'originals' really are fools!" He jumped down and faced the other Uchiha. Sakura did the same with the other Haruno.

"What do you say?" she asked with a smirk, adjusting her gloves. "We can take these idiots out with one hit."

He laughed and nodded his head in agreement. The real shinobi did not move, not even twitching. They said nothing in response.

A large purple fist formed in front of the fake. His teammate prepared to land a deadly blow on the original. They rushed forward at the same time. As they neared their opponents, the two ninja back to back still made no sort of movement, showing no sign that they were going to dodge or counterattack. The opposites struck simultaneously, enjoying their victory for a short instant. The Uchiha had already begun to let the Susano'o fade while trying to halt his movement. Their satisfied expressions quickly changed to gasps of a shock when they disappeared with a puff of smoke. The two caught a short glimpse of each other's terrified expressions before Sakura's fist connected with Sasuke's jaw and all that remained of the the fist of the Susano'o smashed into her entire body. The two flew backwards in opposite directions and slammed into the cave walls. The whole area shook and rocks were falling in every direction. This went on for another minute before the room stilled.

"You were right Sasuke," Sakura said as she poked her head out of the hole, "that was way too easy." She jumped out of the opening and waited for him to follow.

Sasuke winced at the pain in his back while he climbed out. "Get your lookalike and I'll get mine. We'll bring them to the middle."

She took a step in the direction of her counterpart who was buried under a pile of rocks. "Do you think it killed them?"

He walked with a slight limp. "Let's find out." Sasuke pushed the top layer of rocks away and saw a hand. The Uchiha kicked and shoved more of the rubble off the male's crushed body. He yanked the man out by his wrist as soon as he made the hole wide enough. Sasuke dragged him by his ankle to the middle of the cave, finding Sakura already waiting for him. They set the two back to back and Sasuke unsheathed his chokuto. "Who are you?"

His copy laughed and had a coughing fit. "I've already said. I'm you."

Sasuke had been convinced that their lookalikes were a different sort of clone. Now he was absolutely positive of it. "Did Kurushimi send you?"

Another chuckle. This time, it was the Sakura. "He didn't have to make us go anywhere. How many times do we have to say that we're you two?"

Sakura glanced at Sasuke and put a hand on her hip. "So how exactly did you just... appear?"

"Don't you remember waking up for a moment and feeling agonizing pain?"

She furrowed her brow.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes and held the sword at his counterpart's throat. "It's a jutsu of Kurushimi's, isn't it?"

He smirked and glared at the original. "We've never seen or met Kurushimi. We only know him because there's a presence we feel inside our heads. It's him."

The Uchiha's lips seperated, but no words came out. He had to think about what his next question would be. "You said that you could see us no matter where we were. That's false information because you obviously couldn't a moment ago."

Sakura tilted her head to the side so she could see him from the corner of her eye. "It was luck, that's all."

"You're lying," Sasuke replied cautiously.

"Technically, I'm not."

He stared the fakes down for another instant. "He's watching us, isn't he? That's how you were able to see us, right? Since his presence or whatever is with you, he can show you what he sees."

The two beaten shinobi made no noise. Both Sasuke and Sakura could tell that his inferences were correct by their expressions.

Suddenly, the counterparts' heads shot up to face the originals and they spoke in unison. "Well done. You figured out one of my little tricks."

"Kurushimi?" Sasuke questioned knowingly, unfazed. Sakura flinched at the name.

They chuckled. "Yes."

"This is a variation of the jutsu you used on Kenshi?" he inquired.

"Correct. I'd like the both of you to know that your friends are facing themselves right now as we speak. Some of them haven't been very lucky so far. One more thing. I can also allow them to hear what I can as well."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Why would you give us that information?"

The two shrugged in unison. "To frustrate you I guess. The thing that you still need to explain is how I can see and hear most of you're movements."

The air was silent.

The expressions' on the defeated shinobis' faces morphed into very serious ones. "Sasuke, very soon you and your friends will lose this fighting effort that you are trying to throw against me. This will end with you giving yourself up to me. A while ago, you were going to do that anyway, weren't you?"

Sasuke's jaw dropped and his sword slowly lowered.

The clones showed off a pair of smirks. "I don't have any reason to copy your memories again so soon. You can take the time after this to get out of these caves and regroup. I honestly don't care because I know how all of this will end. Until next time, Sasuke." With this, they began to disappear. It looked nearly the same as the way Kenshi had faded. Not even a weapon or drop of blood was left after the process was complete.

Sasuke hesitantly sheathed his chokuto and looked up at his partner, whose features were full of disbelief. "Sakura, don't listen to him. That was a bunch of nonsense. We're not going to lose t-"

"No... Are you really going to give yourself up?"

"Of course not," he quickly answered. "That won't happen."

She sighed. "Never mind that. Sit down so I can heal you."

He nodded. "Let's go down in that small opening. We can discuss things privately."

They traveled back to their intended meeting place. Sakura frowned. "He's probably watching the others if he can see them fighting. I hope they're okay."

"Hn," he grunted in agreement as they hopped into the safe spot. Tons of questions, realizations, and ideas were floating around in his mind. All of it moved to the back of conscience as he sat down and removed his shirt. The only thing that mattered at the moment was them getting a chance to heal and rest.

"This is going to hurt," Sakura cautioned as she gripped a shard embedded deep in his skin. "I didn't notice this one before."

"Go ahead," he said. He couldn't supress his quiet groan of pain when he felt the shard being yanked out of his back. Blood gushed out of the wound and dripped down his skin. He tugged his bandanna off and tossed it on top of his discarded shirt. His breath caught in his throat the moment Sakura's hand came in contact with his skin. He could feel the wound begin to heal and see the faint glow of her chakra reflecting off of the damp walls. Silence filled the area for perhaps an hour before she had extracted the last piece of crystals from his back and healed all of his worst wounds.

Sakura maneuvered around him once she had grabbed some bandages. She expected him to already have his arms lifted, but the male was staring in front of him. "Sasuke?"

No response.

"Sasuke!" she shouted, waving a hand in his face.

He jolted and stared at her in surprise.

"I finished a few minutes ago. Raise your arms."

He obeyed her command, still in shock that he hadn't realized when she was done. It only took half a minute or so for her to wrap the bandages around him. He put on his shirt and watched her heal herself. After all was said and done, they immediately lie down next to each other in an attempt to sleep. However, Sasuke could not get any rest whatsoever. There were too many things he wanted to think about. The main thing on his mind were Kurushimi's words at the conclusion of their battle with the clones. No way Sasuke would ever lose to him. Why would he give himself up? He remembered Sakura's reaction. How could Kurushimi be so sure of that being the outcome to everything?

_"I'm never going to give up,"_ he thought. He heard the rhythmic breathing of his sleeping partner. _"I have something worth fighting for." _That something lay right beside him.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm leaving little hints here and there as to how Kurushimi can see and hear their movements. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the support! Also, I'm repeatedly updating my profile now so that you can see how much I have done of the next chapters of my stories. I've got BAD writer's block for next chapter, so that might take a bit for me to write. Anyway, thanks for reading! Please review!

**OTHER UPDATES**

So I released a MitsuSara oneshot on Tuesday. Yeah, I'm really random... Lol. That's there if you're interested.

At this moment, I'm around halfway done with the next chapter of Family Struggles.


	25. The Promise

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long wait. School and marching band made me much busier than I expected. I know that I'm not updating on my regular day, but I didn't want you to wait any longer. I only got a couple reviews for last chapter, so PLEASE review this time! Don't leave me hanging!

**PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTION AT THE END OF THE CHAPTER!**

* * *

"Kenshi," Kurushimi called, motioning for the male to come toward him. The swordsman stopped in front of the man, arms crossed. He was silent, apparently waiting for the command. "Get the next group ready."

The scarred male furrowed his brow. "Why did you wait this long?"

"It's all part of the plan," he replied. "They've regrouped and are about to exit our hideout."

"How-?"

The man was interrupted by a long and loud rumbling noise. The ground shook violently for another minute.

"They're out," Kurushimi declared, unfazed by the sudden event.

"Why would you let them escape?!" Kenshi angrily shouted.

"Like I said, it's all part of the plan."

"How the heck would I know?! You sit in that room all day and keep every part of our 'plan' to yourself! What was the point of making them fight the clones?!"

"Shut up and do as I said," the male with strange eyes sneered.

They stared each other down before Kenshi abruptly turned around and walked away at a fast pace. _"This is completely ridiculous,"_ he thought. _"All of this is."_ His movements slowed until they came to a stop. _"Why did I agree to any of this again?"_ He frowned and stared at the ground. _"I keep having second thoughts about the... mission. It's because of them that I keep doing it. What is my problem?! Those two make me so worked up just because they're sort of like me and..."_ Kenshi blinked multiple times. _"... her... used to be."_ He sighed and started to walk once more._ "I can't stop thinking like this, no matter what I do. Maybe I should... No! I can't."_ He bit his lip and breathed deeply, glancing around as he did so._ "I better go and get them ready before Kurushimi finds out I'm hesitating..." _With this, the male hurriedly walked toward his destination.

* * *

"Sakura, you need to stop and rest!" Sasuke shouted while grabbing her arm.

She quickly jerked it out of his grasp. "No, I can't!"

"It's okay Sakura," Kankuro said while shuffling away. "Sasuke is right, you've been doing this all day. I can last the way I am now. The worst wounds are gone."

She continued to pant and reluctantly put her hands down by her sides. The medic shifted her gaze to the very worst of the wounded, who was still unconscious. Naruto Uzumaki lay on the other side of the clearing with bandages covering his entire naked chest, Hinata frowning and holding his limp hand. The attack that his group had faced resulted in near fatal injuries for the war hero. His clone almost matched him in power and kept up with him the entire time. Out of no where, all the clones had attacked him at once, making him collapse. The other three managed to beat their copies, leaving only Naruto's. As the fight progressed, the clone took down Kiba and Shino, leaving Hinata to stand alone. She had eventually been brought to her knees by him. The fake Naruto attempted to deliver the killing blow when the cave started to shake. The real Naruto Uzumaki had watched the entire fight his copy had with Hinata and his rage finally exploded. The whole thing ended with him defeating his counterpart and hardly being able to stand. The team then questioned their opposites, receiving answers similar to the ones Sasuke and Sakura had. Before the clones had disappeared, Naruto's did something peculiar. Kurushimi asked if they liked his "gift" and his eyes lit up through the clone's body. The team was confused, but turned when they heard Naruto scream in pain and fall to the ground unconscious.

"How could this have happened?" Sakura whispered as she continued to stare at her friend, tears threatening to spill from her emerald orbs.

Sasuke remembered what his comrades had said the cause of his pain had been. The words "Hope you like my gift!" had somehow been stabbed into his best friend's chest in that moment. He had not woken up since.

It had taken all of the shinobi sent on the mission a few days to reunite and find an exit. Actually, it was Sasuke who had ended up busting through a large section of the cave's roof to make an exit out of frustration. After that, Sakura had been up from dawn the current day until now, very late at night, healing all of her comrades.

The Uchiha frowned. He had thought things over while he watched Sakura healing their friends. The last of his clan repeated Kurushimi's words over and over in his head. _"This will end with you giving yourself up to me."_ He knew that the "gift" had purposely been left for him. Sasuke still wasn't able to believe that Naruto had been injured to this degree. On the bright side, Sakura healed their injured team member's serious wounds, including the words carved into his chest. In fact, Naruto was almost completely free of all injuries thanks to the medic and his own ability to recover quickly. The bad part was that Sakura was clearly left exhausted after mending everyone's battle wounds.

Sakura was momentarily surveying the clearing. Her friends were scattered all around, covered in bandages and frowning or rubbing their heads in frustration. The Uchiha glanced at the medic to see that she was silently crying. He hated it when she cried, but he was just glad that for once he wasn't the cause of it. "Go lie down. Hinata or Ino will take over if needed," he told her quietly. She peered at him shakily before crawling over to her nearby sleeping bag and turning on her side. He knew that she didn't close her eyes, but decided that as long as she was lying down it was fine.

Shikamaru groaned loudly from across the clearing. The Nara had been thinking about everyone's battle descriptions, trying to make sense of something. He heard footsteps and twisted his head to see Sasuke standing beside him. "This is all so complicated," he said while staring at a bandage on his arm.

"Hn, tell me about it," was the reply given by the Uchiha. He wondered if he should tell Shikamaru why the "gift" was sent. Finally, Sasuke reached the decision that it was okay. "Kurushimi meant for me to see the words on Naruto's chest."

"I know," Shikamaru responded.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. Had Kurushimi also told the others that their comrade would supposedly give himself up?

"After all, the whole purpose of this is for him to get you," the Nara declared. "That's not going to happen if I can just figure things out."

He breathed a mental sigh of relief. Shikamaru seemed not to know anything about Kurushimi's claim. The last of his clan didn't want anyone else besides him and Sakura to possess that information. If the others knew, they'd probably never let him out of their sight.

"Now, how can he see and hear what we're doing while we're in the caves?" Shikamaru unknowingly said aloud. "Obviously, his eyes are part of it, but how exactly does it work? They said that everything was visible to them, but each team had at least one moment where the copies couldn't find them..."

Sasuke had been pondering about this as well. "Mine and Sakura's clones were searching areas they had already demolished. Before that, they looked where we were hiding and didn't notice us."

"Areas they had already demolished..." the Nara muttered under his breath. "Hm... It was the same for everyone else. That doesn't make sense though."

Sasuke sat down and grunted in pain. He reached behind him and pulled a crystal shard out of his lower back. "Sakura must've missed this one. I landed on a crystal right before we hid."

"Can I see that?" Shikamaru asked.

Sasuke slowly handed the shard to him, a curious look on his face.

He studied it, turning the item over in his hands and staring intently at the broken crystal. "The light is gone..."

"It faded after I landed on it. Now that I think about it, my copy smashed another one and its light went out too. Sakura said that her counterpart broke one and the same thing happened."

Shikamaru jumped up. "Were they searching in the areas where the broken crystals had been?"

"Yeah..." Sasuke said, the realization slowly coming to him.

"You said they came and searched the place you both hid in right after you'd broken it?" he asked quickly.

Sasuke nodded. "When the shards went into my back just before their light went out, I felt something that was strangely familiar."

Shikamaru facepalmed. "Why didn't I think of this sooner? It's so obvious. Kurushimi has been using the crystals to spy on us. He must have infused his chakra in them or something like that."

The Uchiha stood up. "That's what it was. I felt his chakra leaving the crystal."

"There's one thing that bothers me about that. Think of how many crystals were in there. How much chakra does it take to control all of that? And he made copies of us, too."

Sasuke furrowed his brow. "It's those eyes. I've never seen anything like them before. The last time I fought him, it seemed like he could make any object by using them." He clenched his fists tightly. "That might be why he hasn't come and fought us himself yet. It's using up so much of his chakra." Sasuke ground his teeth together. "He just wants to toy with us right now!"

Shikamaru put a hand on his shoulder. "Calm down. You're probably right, but we can't get worked up about it." He glanced at the others scattered around the clearing. "Besides, we need to worry about healing at the moment."

Sasuke sighed and nodded in agreement.

"WHERE IS HE?! I AM GONNA KILL THAT KURUSHIMI GUY!"

The Uchiha and the Nara fully turned around to see Naruto attempting to stand with a bewildered Hinata trying to keep him where he was. "Naruto, please rest!" she pleaded.

"NO WAY! HE IS GONNA PAY TENFOLD FOR WHAT HE'S DONE TO US!" he shouted while making another effort to stand. It was Sasuke who helped Hinata restrain him, shoving him down and towering over his best friend.

"Knock it off," Sasuke seethed. "Sakura needs to rest because she's been healing everyone today. In fact, she spent the longest time on your sorry butt."

The Uzumaki immediately closed his mouth and tilted his head to the side, staring at the medic's still form. "Me? Was I really hurt that bad?"

"Naruto," Hinata began, "you almost..." She trailed off, unable to finish.

"No, he was left barely alive on purpose," Sasuke stated, staring at Sakura's back. He could tell that she had fallen asleep. Naruto and Hinata looked up at him expectantly. "Anyway, Shikamaru may have just discovered something major. We might know how Kurushimi's been spying on us."

Naruto slapped his hands together while coming to a sitting position. "The sooner we find out, the more time I'll have to pound the jerk."

Hinata put a hand on his chest. "Please rest right now Naruto. You'll need your strength."

He smiled warmly at her and gave his wife a gentle kiss on the lips before lying down and closing his eyes. The former Hyuga had a furious blush as a result. She grinned at the male as she took his hand in hers and stroked it.

Sasuke frowned at the scene and stole another glance at Sakura._ "Soon..."_ He thought back to his failed confessions and cursed himself for freezing up. The Uchiha knew that his confidence had grown, but contemplated on just how soon he should tell her.

* * *

Kenshi had rounded up the next group and was leading them to Kurushimi's control room. All the while they had been eagerly shouting confident threats behind him. The swordsman rolled his eyes. _"I wonder if he wants to send them out now. Ha, they're so foolish. Even though Sasuke's group is injured, I bet they can still get rid of these guys with ease. They're not even close to the best shinobi in our army."_ The male had been confused as to why Kurushimi had decided to bring the lower level, or as Kenshi liked to call them, the crappier ninja first. _"Must be part of his PLAN,"_ he thought to himself, putting great emphasis on the last word.

Kurushimi leaned against the doorway and watched the large group approach him. He had his dark robe on, covering his short sleeve black shirt and long black slacks, both as dark as his hair. The male came to a conclusion that now was the right time to put one of the main parts of his strategy into action. _"I wonder if they've figured out my little trick yet. Hm... I think it's still too early for them to discover, but it doesn't matter. I had fun messing with all of them. Of course, it wasn't an empty gesture though." _He smirked._ "I needed to send Sasuke another message." _The excited yells and shouts of the shinobi coming toward him brought the man with strange eyes out of his thoughts.

Kenshi received a nod of approval from Kurushimi and fell to the very back of the crowd, leaning against a wall opposite of where they were facing. He listened as the leader gave a short and vague description of what they were about to do. As the speech went on, it turned into words of encouragement, basically a pep talk. The swordsman snorted and scowled in disgust at his friend's words. He was only giving them false hope. The scarred male knew for a fact that Kurushimi had no intentions whatsoever of any of them returning alive. He rolled his eyes and made many other disapproving gestures throughout the whole meeting, barely keeping his resistance in laughing at the ninjas' stupidity. The swordsman breathed a sigh of relief when it was over and the group dispersed. When the last of them was out of sight, Kenshi shook his head and chuckled. "You're horrible you know."

Kurushimi had his back turned. "It's necessary for the plan."

He groaned in annoyance. "Plan this, plan that. If you're not gonna tell me any of it, then I don't wanna hear about it." He began to take a step in the opposite direction, but his friend quickly spoke up.

"You're right. I think it's about time I told you of my-"

"Don't say it. I'm starting to hate that word."

Kurushimi smirked. "Do you want to know or not?"

Kenshi nodded and walked into his friend's control room, closing the door behind them.

* * *

Shikamaru had gone over his discovery many times, making sure there were absolutely no flaws to contradict it. After concluding that it was the only possible answer, he had gathered everyone in the group to explain it. They were clearly shocked, their facial expressions giving it away. After that, many of them became extremely frustrated that they had failed to realize it was right under their noses the entire time.

Currently, Gaara, who was one of the shinobi in better health, was on watch duty as the others slept. Sasuke glanced at the Kazekage's back for a moment and closed his eyes shortly afterward. He had tossed and turned for an unknown amount of time while trying to let sleep come to him. However, his efforts constantly failed, leaving him the only person awake besides Gaara. Finally, the Uchiha sighed quietly and gave up on his attempts. Instead, his tired gaze shifted to the woman only a few feet away from him. Sasuke frowned at Sakura's sleeping form. She was facing him and the last of his clan watched the kunoichi's body rise and fall from her rhythmic breathing. He remembered how Naruto and Hinata had been earlier and wished that they could have that. Sasuke tried to put this thought out of his mind and rolled over, staring into the trees._ "Just a little longer. When this is dealt with I can tell you. I won't be afraid anymore."_ A sudden realization occurred to him. His nightmares had gone away. If his memory was correct, it was around the time he had accepted his feelings for Sakura. Sasuke sighed, knowing that he was going to be unbearably exhausted if he didn't get any sleep. How could he not think about this though? Growling, he sprawled out on the ground and frowned while staring into space._ "This is going to be a long night..."_

* * *

Sakura woke up to find a very grouchy and tired Sasuke lying next to her on his stomach, head resting on his folded arms. "Feel better?" he asked drowsily.

"A little," she responded while slowly sitting up. "You look like you didn't get much sleep."

"Hn," he grunted, "that's because I didn't."

"Something bothering you?"

"You have no idea," he said coolly. He sat up and stretched, glancing at the back of Shino, who had taken up the watch post.

Sakura yawned and attempted to get up, failing almost immediately. She groaned in irritation and tried again, this time getting further up but ultimately losing the effort once more. Sasuke gently grabbed her forearm and pulled her to a standing position. "Thanks."

He didn't reply while he slung one of Sakura's arms around his shoulders, letting her steady herself. They looked around to see that everyone else was up, appearing to be even more frustrated than the previous day. The most noticeable one was Naruto, who was pacing back and forth across the clearing with Hinata watching him, rubbing her hands together in deep thought. Sakura stared at the ground with a frown. "Did I miss anything important while I was asleep?" she asked Sasuke.

Sasuke filled her in on the dicovery of how Kurushimi had been watching them. As expected, she had become extremely angry that something so simple had slipped her mind. "We all feel the same way," Sasuke said in an attempt to calm her.

Sakura shook her head in response. After another minute, she sighed loudly. "We can't keep letting him play with us."

"I know," he replied quietly. "I don't plan on it. We have to strike back soon."

"Right now we should recover."

"Hn. We can't drop our guard though."

"Right," she muttered.

Sasuke could immediately tell that something was bothering her after stealing only a single glance. He grabbed her hand that was hanging on his shoulder to give it a light squeeze. Both stared at each other silently for what seemed like forever.

"Sasuke, can we go somewhere a little more private?"

He eyed her curiously for a moment before nodding. The Uchiha slowly led her away from the small clearing until he finally found a suitable place a nice distance away from the campsite. Sasuke and Sakura walked to the edge of a rocky overhang that was not too far away from the ground below. She untangled her arm from around his shoulders and took a small step back. "What's wrong?" her teammate questioned.

Sakura tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and looked away. "Are you considering it, even just a little bit?"

Sasuke narrowed his mismatched eyes in confusion.

Sakura saw that he clearly didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "Giving yourself up."

His lips seperated slightly at the realization before shifting into a wide frown. A short silence followed. The kunoichi gasped quietly when he leaned forward to rest his forehead against hers, the headband keeping most of the dark hair out of his eyes. "Sakura," he breathed, their eyes meeting. He gently took eack of her hands in his. "I'm not going to leave you again."

No words would come out of her mouth.

"I promise..."

The longest silence followed. The only movements they made were to blink. Sasuke squeezed Sakura's hands tighter to reassure her that he was completely serious.

Suddenly, he gasped and his eyes widened. Before she could ask any questions, he pushed her off the ledge and jumped on top of her in a protective manner. Sakura struggled to catch her breath while an explosion went off where they had just been standing. After the smoke and dust had settled down, Sasuke rolled to the side and hurriedly pulled them both into a crouching position. They were both dazed by the blast, vision blurry. Sasuke's vision quickly cleared and he glanced at his partner. She was holding her head and breathing heavily, her senses not returning to their original state. He put an arm around her waist and tugged her closer while drawing his sword with a free hand. With both the Sharingan and Rinnegan active, he was able to see many approaching shinobi in the trees. _"My eyes are back to normal,"_ he thought with confusion._ "I can't stay and fight with Sakura like this. It wasn't just the explosion going off, but she spent too much chakra healing all of us."_ Before the first few enemies could reach them, Sasuke threw down a smoke bomb and was gone with Sakura the next instant.

"Which way did they go?!" someone shouted.

Another pointed. "There!"

"After them!"

* * *

"Sasuke."

"It's okay Sakura. Just hang on to me and I'll take care of them," he said while tightening his grip around her waist. Sasuke had quickly escaped with Sakura the moment the smoke bomb had gone off and provided good cover. They were currently hopping from tree branch to tree branch, Sasuke helping Sakura with each one. She was holding her head with one hand while trying to recover from the blast, the other around her teammate's shoulder.

_"We have to warn the others,"_ the Uchiha thought. The enemy was right on their heels. _"For now, I'll delay them."_ Tilting his head to the side, he noticed that Sakura was looking in front of them, seemingly somewhat back to normal. "Sakura, can you guide us for a minute?"

She nodded and Sasuke twisted his head around to survey the current situation. _"There's a whole line advancing on us. There are more behind them, but they're staying back. I'll take care of the ones in the front line. If I can't eliminate them, then I can at least slow them down. I don't have much of a choice except to kill them. It might be like last time when they were killed by something Kurushimi did after they were defeated."_ A couple of their pursuers charged and Sasuke acted without hesitating. A large wall of black fire appeared directly behind him and the Haruno. The two attacking shinobi failed to stop in time and were engulfed in flames a second later. The enemy lingered behind the wall of fire, allowing the Konohagakure shinobi to put more distance in between them. Sasuke finally extinguished the flames and took over, leading Sakura on.

"Leave them! They're as good as dead anyway!" one of the enemy ninja yelled.

Sasuke scowled in disgust._ "That's sick! How can they just leave their comrades behind like that?!"_

"We're almost there," Sakura declared.

He was brought back to the present by her claim. As they neared the clearing, they gasped in shock. Their comrades were already involved in battles of their own, scattered all across the open land. Sasuke and Sakura stopped on the ground beside the clearing and watched for a moment. A whizzing sound came from behind the last of his clan and the medical kunoichi. They leapt out of harms way from the mass of shuriken and kunai. Together, the two walked backwards as the enemy continued to approach. Not long after, the entire group of shinobi sent on the mission to stop Kurushimi were in a tight circle, back to back, surrounded by the henchman of their enemy.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Hope you enjoyed! I know that the ending was kind of abrupt but I'm saving the fight and some more things for next chapter. Also, the next few chapters will be VERY important. PLEASE review!

**QUESTION: **Remember that other sasusaku story I was talking about writing WAY back at the end of chapter ten or something like that? Well, I'd like to know if you want me to start writing that soon. Please answer this in a review or private message.


	26. The Last Warning

**Author's Note: **As I said at the end of last chapter, I think XD, this will be one of those really important chapters. Also, I've decided to wait until I finish this story to start another sasusaku one, mostly because I already have Family Struggles going. One more thing. I apologize for sort of fast forwarding through some of the fighting, but I needed to fit a lot in this chapter and I still didn't get to where I originally planned. Thanks for the support! Enjoy!

* * *

The enemy had surrounded the shinobi from Konoha and Suna. Sasuke quickly glanced back and forth, trying to see how many there were._ "At least a hundred. There's still more coming."_

Another minute passed with no one bothering to make a move. The army members slowly continued to approach the tight group of ninja, which only got more compacted. Finally, Tenten took a step forward to gain some space and tugged at a scroll on her wrist. Her kusarigama appeared out of thin air a second later and she charged. Temari followed shortly after, pulling her large fan off of her back. Before long, everyone had split up separately or into small groups.

"Sakura-"

"I'm fine now Sasuke. I feel well enough to fight these guys."

The Uchiha and the Haruno were back to back in defensive stances, facing the enemies surrounding them.

"So what's the plan?" she asked, grabbing a kunai from her weapon pouch.

He unsheathed his chokuto. "Attack and make the bodies fall. You'll know we've won when none are left standing."

She smirked. "That seems kind of cruel."

He shrugged and frowned. "It doesn't really matter. Kurushimi will probably kill them like last time, that is, if we win."

Her mouth was set into a thin line. "Either way, let's hurry up and get this over with." With that, she punched the ground in front of her, startling the enemy, and dashed forward.

Sasuke waited for the ground to stop its violent shaking before launching himself at the other half around them. His blade clashed with an older male's, shaking back and forth in the fight for control. A comrade of his attempted to punch Sasuke from behind, failing as the Uchiha dodged and the man ended up with a kunai lodged in his leg. All the while, the last of his clan was still in a battle for control with the other male possessing a sword. Quick as a flash, Sasuke did a complete turn and slashed the man's wrist, causing him to drop the sword. He screamed in pain once again as the chokuto put a deep cut near his ankle and collapsed to the ground. _"More weak ones?" _Sasuke thought in confusion as he took on two at once, defeating them in less than half a minute. _"What are you playing at Kurushimi?" _

Suddenly, a strong gust of air nearly made Sasuke stumble. He put a hand on the ground to steady himself and watched two torpedolike objects fly around the last few enemies in his area. They took a long and slow turn prior to shooting at each other as fast as bullets. When they connected, smashing their enemies together in the process, a loud shredding sound commenced. Finally, the objects' spinning motion grew slower; they broke apart and fell to the ground. The ninjas that'd been attacked fell to the earth, not moving a muscle.

"Nice work Akamaru!" Kiba shouted with pride.

The dog barked happily in response.

Kiba tilted his head toward Sasuke and pointed. "We'll finish up here. Naruto and Sakura could use some help where they're at. They've got the most to deal with."

Sasuke nodded and pivoted on his heel while breaking out into a run, heading in the direction the Inuzuka had indicated. He saw Lee open one of the gates, a green glow radiating off of his body. Sasuke ran between the legs of a giant monster Sai had drawn and made come to life, seeing the pale ninja a moment later. A group of five enemies were in his path. He held up his sword, ready to blow through them. Kakashi beat him to it and ended them all with one burst of lightning. He gave his former sensei a nod of thanks and continued to travel toward his team members. Tenten, Hinata, and Shino were grouped together and fighting a large pack of shinobi. Sasuke helped them out by destroying about half of them with black fire. The last group he passed before finding his team was Ino, Shikamaru, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. They seemed to be fine so Sasuke kept going.

"... Dattebayo!" came a muffled shout from nearby.

Sasuke flipped over several heads to land directly in the middle of a massive swarm. Naruto and Sakura were close beside him, giving the Uchiha a surprised glance at his sudden arrival.

Sakura nearly stumbled when she took a step backwards. Sasuke was about to ask if she was okay, but she interrupted before he began. "I'm fine. A little fatigue isn't going to stop me easily."

Sasuke returned his attention to the crowd of shinobi surrounding them. _"Kiba was right. There are a lot more of them here than anywhere else." _He couldn't resist stealing another glance at Sakura. _"She's still tired from healing all of us."_ The Uchiha motioned for Naruto to come closer. "Watch her back," he whispered.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "What are you about to do?"

Sasuke's frown grew wider. "I'll take care of this side. You and Sakura handle the rest."

Normally the Uzumaki would protest. The thing stopping him from doing so was that he saw a newly found determination in his best friend's eyes. Naruto smirked. "Alright then, have it your way. Just don't come crying to us for help. Let's do this Sakura!"

"Right!" she shouted. Within an instant, she was already rushing towards the first enemy in her path.

Naruto did a backflip in the air and drew his arm back. He flung it back out and a Rasenshuriken came flying through the sky.

Sasuke kept his deadly glare directed toward the shinobi in front of him. To his satisfaction, some of them seemed to become more terrified by the second under his unwavering gaze. _"Kurushimi... I will NOT lose to you..."_

* * *

Kurushimi squeezed his eyes shut and pressed two fingers to the side of his head in concentration. He had linked his mind to a couple of the shinobi he had sent out. One was fighting, the other was currently watching from a short distance away, well hidden in the trees. The ninja fighting was staying at the back of the group for the moment, as instructed by the mastermind himself. Kurushimi was waiting for the right time to send the signal to him. The hidden ninja's part would come later in the operation.

_"As expected, they haven't quite yet fully recovered from their battles in the caves. Perfect. That makes this even better. Everything has gone smoothly so far and I intend for it to stay that way."_ Kurushimi smirked. _"Your story will draw to a close very soon Sasuke Uchiha." _He wiped sweat off of his forehead with a free hand. _"Although, I didn't want to end my fun so soon. I wanted to toy with ALL of you for longer, but it seems that this whole operation is more strenuous than I thought." _He snorted out loud, thinking about Kenshi's actions when he'd told him of the plan earlier. _"I don't know what's wrong with him, but he better not screw this up. This part of my plan is crucial."_

* * *

Sakura held her arm and let her head rest against the tree she was leaning on. _"We can't last much longer. They just keep coming. It never seems to end."_ They had been fighting for who knows how long. The enemies they faced had been fairly weak, but they had not gone unscathed by the skill lacking army. It was the numbers disadvantage that'd been a huge factor in this. Sakura breathed a mental sigh of relief as she looked around. _"I think we're finally almost done."_ It was true there were few enemies left to face, but one in particular was acting peculiar. He noticed her stare and stood still for a second. Sakura frowned and pushed herself off the tree while moving into a battle stance. The man was the size of the Raikage and had no wounds whatsoever. She was prepared to take him on, seeing as how his comrades hadn't been much of a challenge._ "Why has he been staying back this whole time?"_

Kurushimi gave the silent signal that only he knew was coming. The man rushed toward the kunoichi and pulled out a gigantic club.

Sakura's eyes widened at the man's speed. He was in front of her in a second, swinging the massive club down. She barely managed to dodge in time and leaped further away, wincing at the pain in her side from multiple minor wounds she had received earlier. She was alarmed at this. The pain had finally begun to set in and she wondered how the others were holding up. Her thoughts were brought back to the present when the large man lunged at her again with great speed. This time his attack had been with a long and heavy sword. It'd missed its mark, instead ripping a small section of Sakura's clothing.

_"I've never seen anyone as big as him move like that before except the Raikage himself!"_ she screamed inwardly out of disbelief.

The large man chuckled. "You're pretty quick on your feet, but this fight won't last much longer." With this, he made a series of hand seals and the ground beneath them began to shake and crumble.

Sakura hopped from shaking rock to shaking rock, laughing when she got out of range of his attack. "You know, I can do something like that without using any hand signs."

"Really?" he asked curiously. "I'm not so sure about that."

A smirk. "Be careful what you wish for." She started to reach back and get ready to deliver an earth shattering punch to the ground below the tree where she was currently perched. The kunoichi gasped and halted her movement. The earth that had been cracked and shattered was moving together in large clumps, forming figures. After another minute, they had formed rock warriors, all facing her in battle stances. She looked around and noticed Naruto at a not so close distance from her. They had been seperated quite some time ago. _"This shouldn't be too hard. There's only ten of them and if I hit them with a chakra filled punch, they should be destroyed."_ With this, she jumped down toward the closest one and prepared to strike.

Bam!

Wind flew out in all directions from the force of the blow. She opened her eyes and gasped. The rock warrior was still looking straight at her, unmoved. Sakura had only managed to put a crack in the figure. _"What is this?!"_ Before she could think further, the warrior drew back its arm and aimed at her head.

* * *

As the battle raged on, Kurushimi watched every moment with great anticipation. He smirked in satisfaction at a struggling pink-haired kunoichi. Nonetheless, he was very impressed by her will to go on and keep fighting. There was one rock warrior left to stand against her. Kurushimi knew that it'd taken a lot out of the woman to defeat even one of the warriors. One of the ninja he had his mind linked to was fighting against her. He'd sent this specific person to fight for a reason. He gave another signal to the man.

* * *

Sakura breathed heavily, getting ready to strike the last one. She was nearly out of chakra from the effort she'd put into this fight. She had to use every bit of strength she had left to destroy the only rock warrior in her path. With a forced running start, she cried out while her fist connected with the hard surface, creating a defeaning sound.

The dust cleared to reveal its shattered body.

Sakura blinked and fell onto a nearby tree for support, breathing even heavier than before. _"This guy definitely isn't like the others. What's going on here?"_ Her eyes shot open. _"Wait, where is-?!"_

A foot hit the side of her head. The next thing Sakura knew, she was back into the middle of the clearing.

"Sakura!" Naruto yelled. He started to go and help his friend, but was delayed by more enemies attacking him.

Everything that'd happened in the last few seconds was all a blur. It took another moment to realize that her opponent was speaking.

"I'm surprised you managed to destroy all ten of them. It doesn't matter though, seeing as how I'm about to kill you!"

She got to her knees as fast as she possibly could. Sakura caught the man's fist in one of her hands.

He was shocked that she still had enough strength left to fight. He drew his long sword and swiped.

Sakura did not release his hand. Instead, she swung her free fist toward him. _"I know that I'm going to get a nice new wound after this, but it's the only chance I've got at beating him. He's in a completely different league than the rest."_

Everything went in slow motion. Her fist and his sword were halfway from each other.

The horrific sound of ripping flesh followed.

Blood spattered on Sakura's face and clothing, a baffled expression on her features. The man was equally bewildered. Both had stopped moving entirely. Ever so slowly, the man looked down at his bleeding chest. A hand was sticking out of it, glowing brightly with lightning surrounding it.

Sasuke removed his hand from the enemy's chest and heart, letting him fall to the ground, dead in an instant.

Sakura hardly dared to breathe. She had never once seen the Uchiha as livid as this. The kunoichi heard the footsteps of their comrades coming closer. They too stared at the scene in shock. Sakura flinched slightly when Sasuke turned his purple and red gaze to her.

He leaned down and grabbed her shoulders with a tight grip. "Are you okay?"

She relaxed and nodded when his voice softened. "I-I'm fine," she said hesitantly.

The Uchiha studied her for another moment before setting a furious glare on his features once more, this time directed at Naruto. He stomped over to the Uzumaki, who had been rubbing the back of his neck in relief. The whiskered male looked up just as Sasuke was taking the last few steps to close the distance between them.

Sasuke yanked his best friend forward by his shirt collar. "I told you to watch her back!" he growled.

Naruto shoved him away. "We got separated and she doesn't need me or anyone else to babysit her!"

"I know! It's just..."

Sakura and the rest of their comrades watched as they argued. No one made a sound when Sasuke froze. The Uchiha opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off when an explosion rattled the forest floor from nearby. Everyone fell to the ground as more went off.

"Kurushimi must be doing whatever he did last time to kill the shinobi from his army!" Kakashi shouted over the loud noises.

The booms and bangs went on for several more minutes. They were beginning to become more distant; supposedly, the enemy shinobi further away were exploding.

Sasuke uncovered his ears and cautiously looked up while the explosions continued to distance themselves. He glanced around and saw tons of blood on the ground from the enemy. His comrades were beginning to take the chance and move. Sasuke returned his gaze forward, only for his jaw to fall to the ground a moment later. In the trees he saw movement, human movement. It wasn't just any person either. The male twisted his head to the side to meet Sasuke's disbelieving gaze. The Uchiha knew this man's appearance all too well by now._ "Kenshi..."_

Sakura watched as Sasuke stumbled to his feet and ran into the woods. She was about to go after him or call his name, but another explosion went off closer than the others had been. The kunoichi covered her head and waited, dirt and blood hitting her back. After things around her had settled once more, she tried to pull herself to her feet with no luck._ "I'm low on chakra and injured. It's no use. Sasuke... whatever you're doing, please be careful."_

* * *

Sasuke ground his teeth together at the massive effort he was making. He could feel blood dripping from earlier wounds he'd received, pain coming with each movement. Nonetheless, the Uchiha seemed as if he hadn't noticed. He was too focused on pursuing the male in front of him. Kenshi was also hopping through the trees at a fast pace, making Sasuke struggle to keep up. There was a small clearing up ahead and they would be forced to hit solid ground soon. _"I'll attack then,"_ Sasuke decided silently.

Sure enough, Kenshi dropped down from his spot in the trees and landed at the edge of the clearing.

Sasuke drew back his fist and launched himself at the scarred male. To his dismay, Kenshi disappeared as the punch hit him._ "It was a clone. Where's the real one?" _He scanned the area, trying to pick up a chakra signature. One flashed across from him, quick as lightning. The figure was right in front of the Uchiha an instant later, landing a punch to the jaw that made Sasuke topple over and gasp for air. _"What?! It's almost like the first time I fought him when I couldn't keep up with his movements. Did I use too much chakra?" _A foot buried itself in his side. Sasuke rolled over multiple times and came to a stop when he smacked into a tree stump. However, he had caught something this time. His Sharingan had gotten a small glimpse of Kenshi. There was a light blue glow coming from the male's body, very faint. _"I've never seen that before. Did it happen in any of our previous fights?"_ His thoughts were cut off when he stood up and heard a rustle behind him. Sasuke quickly turned to face Kenshi. Before the Uchiha could react, the master swordsman stabbed him in the arm with a needle like object and disappeared the next second. A grunt of pain filled the area as Sasuke pulled it out, his hand shaking slightly. A black substance was on the needle where it'd pierced his arm.

"That's poison," Kenshi explained indifferently.

Sasuke's entire body was beginning to shake and his vision was blurry. He collapsed to the ground as the needle and the poison on it vanished. Sweat rolled off his entire convulsing body as he slowly twisted his head to the side to face Kenshi. He was seeing double, the figures going in and out of focus.

"It affects your mind as well as your body," the scarred male said.

The voices echoed in his ears and he could hardly move his body without it violently shaking by now. He began to pant rapidly; all air had seemingly left his lungs.

"Sasuke Uchiha," another familiar voice sounded, echoing just like Kenshi's had.

Another figure appeared right beside Kenshi.

"Kuru... shimi..." Sasuke croaked out.

A laugh. "Yes. This me is merely an illusion or, as I prefer, a message." He watched in amusement as the dual dojutsu user failed to move. "You saw how many members are in my army and that's not even half. I know for a fact that Sakura Haruno's fight angered you. That ninja she faced is just a small taste of what is to come. I can send any of my army out at whatever time I want. You and your comrades are all injured."

A sliver of confusion slipped into Sasuke's pained expression.

Kurushimi continued. "The reason I'm telling you this is simple. Do you remember our little talk after you defeated your clones?" A wide and serious frown placed itself on his features. "I will give you this one chance. None of your comrades will have to suffer if you cooperate." A long pause followed as Sasuke continued to struggle for air. "Sasuke Uchiha, you have until tomorrow night to give yourself up. You will come to the cave wall that is nearest here and it will open once you reach it. Before you even consider refusing or planning a counterattack, think about what I said a moment ago. It's either you or your comrades along with you."

Kurushimi slowly vanished.

Sasuke ground his teeth together as Kenshi placed a foot on the side of his head. "How long did he give you?"

The Uchiha was completely bewildered by the question, but he was in too much pain from the poison combined with the male's foot to not give an answer. "Tomorrow... night..." The last of his clan thought he had seen a small bit of relief in the swordsman's expression, but he decided it was an illusion from the poison. His attacker ran off, leaving him alone on the ground writhing in agony. It kept getting worse by the second, even to the point where he was about to scream in pain.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto and Gaara were approaching his frozen form. The pair immediately crouched beside their comrade and studied the shaking male.

Naruto shook his best friend's shoulders. "Sasuke! Sasuke, what happened?!" His best friend did not respond, his eyes squeezed shut and teeth clenched together in pain.

The Kazekage quickly checked the environment around them for danger, finding nothing peculiar. He then returned his attention to Sasuke. "Naruto, we have to get him back to the others."

"What's wrong with him?! Why isn't he answering?!" the Uzumaki shouted frantically.

"I don't know, but we have to hurry," Gaara said with a sense of urgency. The ground below them changed into sand and floated above the earth. They were off a moment later, flying through the trees.

Sasuke hardly had any idea what was going on around him. His breathing came in harsh pants, sweat rolling down every inch of his petrified body. His mind had momentarily been occupied by Kurushimi's warning. The Uchiha cried out as a sharp pain shot through him. He opened his eyes this time, finding Naruto and Gaara staring down at him. They were apparently flying and Naruto was saying something that was deaf to his ears.

Suddenly, the Uzumaki's pupils morphed into a blood red color, the rest turning black. They almost looked like Sasuke's eyes in the second stage of the curse mark. Naruto was seething with anger as he spoke. "All you've ever cared about is yourself! I did everything I could to save you! Now I regret it! All you ever do is hurt people, you-!"

The rest of his best friend's words were drowned out by Sasuke's desperate yell to stop. Naruto's words only added onto the frustration he was feeling. The Uchiha forced his head to turn away from the Uzumaki. His mismatched orbs landed on Gaara, who had the same expression as Naruto, eyes also a copy of Naruto's. The Kazekage viciously gazed down at him. "I should have taken my chance to kill you at the Five Kage Summit! It would have saved us all some trouble!"

Sasuke gathered enough strength to cover his ears and once again squeezed his eyes shut. Their voices grew more and more distorted by the second, but the pain shooting through his body only got worse. He howled out loud, not being able to hold it in anymore. The last thing he remembered prior to blacking out was the warning. He didn't have enough time to consider it right now, but the one thing he did get to think about was that he only had until tomorrow night. If he decided to go, then he had until then to say it...

_"Sakura..."_

* * *

Kurushimi took the rag out of the water and put the wet cloth over his eyes. A quiet sigh of relief escaped his lips when he sat down._ "This is why I had to go ahead with my plan and make a few changes. I didn't expect this to happen."_ His thoughts once again drifted back to Kenshi's reaction earlier.

* * *

Kenshi closed the door and waited for Kurushimi to explain the plan. His friend spoke with complete seriousness.

"Kenshi, very shortly Sasuke Uchiha will give himself up."

The scarred swordsman raised an eyebrow and frowned. "I thought you wanted to toy with him and the rest of them longer. Also, why would he willingly turn himself over to you?"

Kurushimi revolved around so that his back was to the other male. "I'm going to send one of the elites out with the next group and link my mind to his. I will also send you."

Kenshi's lips seperated slightly. "Me? Why me?"

"I will also connect my mind with yours. You are to give Sasuke the final warning. The elite will attack Sakura Haruno after she has been fighting for a while, leaving her to think that he is just another one of the weaklings and be caught off guard. After a time, I predict that Sasuke will see this and reach a higher level of frustration. In the meantime, I want you to stay hidden until I give you the signal. The group I send will eventually be defeated and I'll trigger the explosives on their bodies and you know what happens next. My signal will come around then and you must run through the woods in no particular direction; just make sure that Sasuke sees you and pursues."

"How do I give him the 'warning' then?" Kenshi questioned.

Kurushimi motioned for him to follow and he complied. The two men walked to a table with tons of liquids in containers scattered across it. The male with strange eyes studied the bottles, looking for a certain one. "Here it is," he muttered quietly.

Kenshi watched with fascination as his friend held out his hand and a blue needle like object appeared out of thin air. From what he already knew, the thing was made from Kurushimi's chakra. His eyes followed the needle as Kurushimi poured a very small bottle of sticky liquid onto it.

"Whatever you do," the dark-haired male explained, "do not even prick yourself with it. It's a poison that I invented and this is the only bit I have. Use this to stab Sasuke. It doesn't matter where or how deep it goes, just make sure it gets into his system. Also, I want you to use your speed."

Kenshi carefully took the needle and stared at his friend in surprise. "Sasuke didn't see it in our first battle and in the second I didn't have enough control on my copy to do it. This time he'll see it for sure, even if it's only a glimpse."

Kurushimi sighed lazily. "It doesn't really matter at this point. Anyway, once the poison gets into his system, he will start seeing illusions of varied sorts. However, I prepared a specific one of myself. I will give him a warning and threaten to send the rest of the army out if he doesn't come, including the elites. To add to that, I will order them to kill his comrades. In the end he will give himself up in order to save his friends."

Kenshi looked down and tightened his grip on the needle. "How long?"

"Hm?" Kurushimi asked, clearly confused.

"How long are you giving him to do it?" he questioned.

Kurushimi thought he heard a slight sense of urgency in his voice, bur discarded the idea. He shrugged. "I was thinking I could make you drag him back here if he agreed right off."

"That's a stupid thing to do!" Kenshi shouted abruptly.

Kurushimi frowned. "I didn't say you had to carry him."

He slammed a fist on top of the table. "No! That's not what I mean at all!"

Silence.

The scarred male was getting very irritated. _"I can't let this happen again. It can't go the way it did with me and her... But, they're supposed to be enemies. WHY CAN'T I GET THAT THROUGH MY HEAD?!"_ He punched the cave wall in frustration, his friend watching on, utterly confused. Forcing himself to calm down, Kenshi thought of something to say. "Wouldn't it be better if you gave him say, until the night after he's poisoned. That way he'll be miserable suffering its effects, and..." A smirk slid across his features. "Just imagine how hard it'll be on him when he leaves. Heck, he'll be crying like a baby."

Kurushimi appeared to be a little bewildered by his friend's mood swings, but a matching smirk played onto his lips. "You're right. Okay, I'll give him until then. Whatever causes him more pain will do. Oh, by the way, there's a reason I'm doing this. I didn't expect to be so exhausted from the entire operation and it's beginning to take its toll."

Kenshi's lips were set into a thin line. "I understand. Just tell me when we're going to be sent out later." He walked to the door and exited the room.

* * *

Kurushimi snorted aloud as he remembered their conversation. _"Kenshi's been acting very peculiar as of late. I have no idea what's wrong with him. It almost seemed as if... Hmph! Just whose side are you on Kenshi?"_ He inwardly laughed after a minute. _"What am I thinking? Kenshi has always been a loyal friend and follower. Nothing will ever change that."_

Kurushimi stood up and removed the wet cloth from his eyes. "Now back to the task at hand." He smirked. "Soon it will be over Sasuke Uchiha..."

* * *

**Author's Note: **So everything on the enemy side seems pretty weird, am I right? That'll be explained soon. Oh gosh, next chapter is going to be tough for me to write. It's because that's probably the most important chapters so far and I've been waiting forever to write it. Get ready for some major feels! Also, I've said this before but in case you don't remember, I'm going to have marching contests nearly every Saturday in October. I'll make an effort to get time to write and update during that month. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Please review!

**OTHER UPDATES **

I published an Uchiha family oneshot some time ago if any of you are interested.

I'm going to try and get the next chapter of Family Struggles out by next Saturday.


	27. Goodbye

**Author's Note: **It feels like it's been forever since I last updated even though it's only been like a month. Anyway, marching season is pretty much over now since we've done all of our scheduled competitions and there are no more after school practices so I can have more time to write and edit. I wanted to finish writing and editing this chapter Friday night but I had a game and I was really tired when I got home so that's why I'm updating on a Sunday. I had trouble writing this chapter because it's one of those important ones and I felt like it had to be absolutely perfect. That being said, I hope it doesn't feel rushed or anything like that. Enjoy!

* * *

_"... Hold him down!..."_

_"... He's going in and out of consciousness!..."_

_A scream of pain._

_"... I said hold him down!..."_

_"..."_

_"... Sasuke... he's... okay..."_

Those were the only things Sasuke remembered when he slowly regained consciousness. He had been poisoned while pursuing Kenshi, he recalled. The sound of rushing water filled his ears when he lifted his eyes open, his head turned to the side. There was a small waterfall and a stream about ten feet away. The area was dimly lit and the ground where one of his hands rested was cold. He was in a cave, but sunlight hit the wall he faced. The Uchiha's other hand lay on top of his bare chest, covered by many layers of blankets. His shirt, headband, and weapons were off to the side. It was then that he noticed something slimy and sticky on his stomach. Sasuke turned his head forward and threw back the blankets. The only thing preventing him from shouting out of surprise was the pain in his body.

A large slug slid off of his naked torso. "Oh, you're awake."

Sasuke calmed down as he realized the slug was Sakura's summoning. The Uchiha relaxed and laid his head back down. "Uh... Katsuyu, is it?"

"Yes," she said while slithering up beside him so he could see her. "Sakura summoned me during the night after she took the poison out of your system. I split into multiple bodies in order to take care of everyone."

A grave look settled on Sasuke's face. "Where is Sakura?"

Katsuyu nodded towards his other side. Sasuke immediately twisted his head around to find the pink-haired medic lying close to him. He wasn't sure if the Haruno was asleep or unconscious. Another slug slid out from behind the woman's body. Sasuke saw that all of their comrades were outside the large cave, discussing something as a group.

"We've been healing you two ever since we were summoned. The others have been taken care of," the second Katsuyu explained.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in acknowledgement. He stared at Sakura's still form in silence. A sorrowful expression grew on his facial features when something else came to mind.

Kurushimi's threat was something he still had yet to consider. The two choices he had were to give himself up and his comrades would be safe, or they could take a stand together. The problem with the latter was that they were recovering and would be put up against countless shinobi. To add to that, Kurushimi said there were a lot of other ninjas in his army like the one Sakura faced, elites. No matter which option Sasuke chose, it'd only lead to heartache and pain, both for him and his comrades. Sasuke would much rather stand and fight, but there was no possible way they could win in this state. That meant his only alternative was to willingly give himself up.

A wide frown settled on the Uchiha's lips. It was over... He'd lost...

_"Sakura..."_

Sasuke had to do it. There was no other way. He was going to give himself up. Now that he'd made one decision, there's still another to make... Should he tell Sakura how he really felt? If he did, then they would both suffer after he gave himself up. If he didn't, he'd regret it and both of them would still suffer. He stopped pondering on that subject and went back to the earlier one. Did he even have to go at all?

Sasuke took both of his calloused hands and rubbed them over his face. He had no clue what he should do. The Uchiha twisted his head to the side once more so he faced Sakura._ "I promised I wouldn't leave you again..."_ That thought weighed on his mind the most. Did he have to break that promise? _"Why did this have to happen? No matter what I do, it always seems like something bad is bound to occur..."_ He felt like his journey for redemption would all be a waste if he was killed now. What real choice did he have though? Kurushimi would definitely, without a doubt, murder him if he gave himself up. If they were to stand and fight, there was an extremely high chance of him and his comrades perishing. The Uchiha couldn't stand the thought of everyone losing to Kurushimi. That's when it hit him...

Sasuke's lips seperated slightly and his eyes widened._ "If I choose to hand myself over, then they'll be safe... But... We'll still have a chance... Kurushimi said he won't harm any of them if I do this. He needs to be stopped though, no matter what the cost. They can go back to the village and get help. That means..."_ He swallowed._ "I'll have to sacrifice myself in the process."_ The Uchiha didn't pay too much attention to the "sacrificial piece" part, but all of this had a gigantic dilemma in the middle. What should he do about Sakura?

Parts of his comrades' heated debate drifted to his ears. Sasuke did his best to catch as much of it as he could.

"... e can't... keep... ightin... ke this!"

"... we nee... a... terattack!"

A wide frown grew on Sasuke's lips. His friends had clearly been driven close to their breaking points. What if all of this had been meaningless, without a point? Another thought crossed his mind once more. If he were to give up, then what had his redemption journey been for? Sasuke shut out those conflicts, forcing them to stay at the back of his troubled mind. His eyes averted from the cave's ceiling and landed on Sakura's face again. He slowly made his stiff joints move so he could rest on his side. The Uchiha lifted one of his hands and extended his arm far enough so that he could rest it on her cheek. _"I don't want to leave you..."_

* * *

"Kenshi," came a call from behind.

The master swordsman grunted in annoyance and twisted his head to the side so he could see over his shoulder. "What is it now Kurushimi?"

The man's face contorted to show an expression of irritation mixed with something vague, almost like distrust. He quickly changed it so Kenshi wouldn't see because it would only lead to an unnecessary argument. He sighed heavily and cleared his throat. "I was going to say that I need you to complete another task."

Kenshi fully turned so he faced the male with strange eyes. "Another task?"

Kurushimi gave a small nod of confirmation before elaborating. "I need you to be the one who brings Sasuke here. In the vision of myself he saw thanks to the poison, I explained how he would be granted entry into the caves. There will be only a single path to follow until he arrives at a certain point. I want you to wait at the spot and lead him to me."

He narrowed his eyes. "How do you know he'll actually come, huh?"

The man snorted in amusement. "Does he really have much of a choice?"

A deadly silence filled the air after that, Kenshi staring at the ground in front of him with entirely blank, emotionless features. No matter how hard Kurushimi pondered on the subject, he couldn't tell what his friend was thinking. What had caused all these sudden personality changes in his best friend?

* * *

Sakura didn't get it. Ever since she had woken up, Sasuke clung to her side, literally... He'd grab her by the arm wherever they went around the campsite, tightly gripping her hand but not enough to hurt. At first, the medic thought it was only because of how worn out she'd been from their previous encounters with the enemy and the countless healing sessions. After she eventually felt well enough to walk on her own, he still refused to leave her side. Sakura had seen him act somewhat like this before, but there was something different about the Uchiha this time...

Sasuke gave Sakura's hand a light squeeze when he noticed her zoned out look. She turned her head to see a concerned expression cross his features. "Something bothering you?"

She smiled. "I'm fine, just a bit tired still."

He ran his fingers through his dark locks and decreased the pressure on their entwined hands. "Sakura, I..."

The Haruno stared at him while waiting for the man to continue, her eyes slightly narrowed. She decided to voice what was on her mind. "Sasuke, I think the real question is, what's bothering YOU?"

The look he gave her sent a shiver down Sakura's spin. It was like all of his other emotionless, stoic expressions, but she could tell there was much, much more behind his "mask"...

He swallowed and spoke again. "I..." A long, quiet, drawn out sigh of frustration escaped his lips. "I..."

She grinned. "Is it what you were trying to tell me a long time ago? I told you to wait until you were ready to say it."

The Uchiha froze, not knowing what else to do except frown. "Sort of, but not exactly."

"Don't force yourself to do something you're not ready for," she said softly.

The sound of rushing water hit their ears and they watched the small waterfall silently. Sasuke's frown grew wider._ "What do I do? Sakura, I don't want to leave you, but... I don't think I have a choice..." _Sasuke put his hands together under his nose as they continued to stare at the waterfall. He had been weighing his options since the moment he'd woken up and he was still currently trying to come to a final conclusion on the subject.

* * *

Kenshi stared at the ceiling noiselessly, his arms crossed behind his head and his lips set into a small frown. He shifted his legs on the bed and let out a huff of annoyance. The caves were always so freaking cold and his sleeveless top did not help the situation very much. Earlier in the day he'd been studying some of the army members as they trained. Eventually he got bored of seeing the elites beat the crap out of the weaklings._ "Hmph! That's all they ever do is train. Ever since Kurushimi convinced them to work under him they've been this way. Whatever... some of them will always be pathetic fools no matter which way you think about it."_

The sound of footsteps echoed through the halls outside his room. His ears twitched at the sudden sound.

"I can't wait until it's our turn to get some action!" someone shouted eagerly.

A laugh. "I know right! Pft, I heard the other groups that got sent out blew it and got themselves killed. We'll show the enemy what real shinobi are once we get our hands on them."

Kenshi smirked in amusement and shook his head. "Idiots," he muttered under his breath. The master swordsman vaguely recognized both their voices. He'd heard them talking about the exact same thing while he surveyed the army's training. They were a couple of the "weaker ones" as he liked to call them frequently.

The next few minutes passed and more voices found their way to his ears, over and over. Normally, Kenshi would complain about it and wonder why he didn't get a room change. The army members did not have their own living space. All they had were some blankets and pillows where they slept a few feet away from each other in the one of the larger parts of the hideout. Kurushimi never offered them food or water. The shinobi had to venture out into a nearby village and steal it for themselves. In here, it was hardly ever about teamwork or trust. Of course, people made alliances or truces with each other. Others were blood relatives and usually stuck together. Nonetheless, there was always a chance that fighting among the group or family could brew, leading to the alliance being broken or brothers and sisters to give each other the silent treatment. Nearly every day, Kenshi could spot at least one group that had been formed or split.

Kenshi yawned and sat up to stretch prior to lying down on his back once more. He knew later on in the day he would have to meet up with Sasuke to take him into the main part of the hideout, that is, if the Uchiha came. The scarred male thought back to Kurushimi's words in one of their previous encounters.

_"Does he really have much of a choice?"_

He narrowed his eyes at the ceiling above him. _"Kurushimi is hiding something... from all of us..." _The man had been suspecting such things for quite some time now, but this was the moment where it'd become as clear as day to him. _"It's impossible to figure out right now. I can't put my finger on it. Hm..." _Kenshi frowned in deep thought, appearing outwardly troubled. _"This always crosses my mind nowadays... Is what we're doing worth it?"_

* * *

Failure. It was one of the things that Sasuke Uchiha hated the most. Throughout the day he received concerned and curious looks from his comrades repeatedly. To his satisfaction, they did not outwardly question or confront him. He needed time to think, and a lot of it. Willingly handing himself over to Kurushimi meant failing. He would not only be failing the mission, but all of his other goals as well. His clan would not be revived and the Uchiha would be extinct, his redemption journey wouldn't have an ending he had hoped for, and a handful of other things to add. Sasuke was going to leave all of his friends and comrades behind if he did this.

The wind ruffled his hair lightly, causing him to open his tired onyx orbs. The last Uchiha stood in the middle of a small clearing watching the sun begin to set. Sasuke spent most of his spare time that day with Sakura, trying to work up the courage to do... something. He constantly failed to do so, not wanting to imagine the crushed look on her face after he left.

It had come down to this. He only had a few hours left until everyone would attempt to get some rest. Sasuke was going to take care of whoever was on guard duty first shift, perhaps putting them in a genjutsu. Maybe he would even apply one to the rest of them. The last Uchiha concluded not to since the cave would only be open until he walked through the special entrance, or at least he hoped that was the case.

Sasuke Uchiha stood in the middle of that small clearing for even more hours thinking of his options. He needed to be alone in that amount of time, otherwise his thoughts would get mixed up. He was going to leave very soon. The sun was no where in sight and his comrades would head in for the night shortly. He sighed and closed his eyes. _"I should stay away from Sakura. There's no need to make this more difficult than it needs to be." _A wide frown grew to rest on his lips. _"I guess this is... goodbye..."_

"Sasuke?"

He twisted his head to the side at the sudden interruption. "Hn, you should be resting back at camp."

"I wanted to check on you first," Sakura replied. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he lied emotionlessly. A mixture of feelings surged through his entire body. Of course something he didn't want to happen ended up happening. It was like the universe itself was begging him not to leave. He knew that he had no other option on the matter and attempted to control himself. "Just... don't worry about me."

Sakura smiled. "That's never going to happen and you know it. I love you too much." The Haruno turned a light shade of red at her last few words. She hadn't meant to say it out loud.

A pang of sorrow slammed into Sasuke's chest. He frowned and stared at his teammate with the feeling visible in his onyx orbs. It was too late to confess. He couldn't do that to her now, not when he was about to leave again, probably for good this time. The Uchiha knew there was no point in trying to hide the emotions seen in his eyes because he just couldn't help it. He had to say goodbye, even if it wasn't direct.

"S-Sasuke?"

He continued to gaze at her with a mysterious look in his eyes. The last of his clan shuffled forward an inch so that their bodies nearly touched. "Sakura, thank you for being my friend and never giving up on me." Before she could respond, the medic felt two fingers gently press against her forehead. "Hn," he smirked at the red coloring in her cheeks. "Always annoying."

Sakura forced a timid smile onto her lips. "Yeah, I know. And you're still a jerk."

His smirk grew wider as he removed his fingers. They stared at each other for what could have been seconds, minutes, even hours it seemed... Finally, Sasuke began to lean forward. Sakura was frozen in place at his action. His hand moved slowly up her arm and the kunoichi's heart started to thump wildly. Just when the Uchiha was only an inch or so away from her, he switched directions and pulled her into a hug instead of going forth with his original intentions. "S-Sakura, thank you again."

The medic wrapped her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

* * *

Sasuke heard the crickets chirping into the quiet night. He carefully and noiselessly got out of his position lying on the grass. He took a deep breath and grabbed his belongings that had been set next to him. This was it. Time to leave, for good... The Uchiha glanced in the direction of the person on guard duty. _"Naruto..."_ He knew that he had to do something in order to stop his best friend from coming after him. _"First, I need to take care of him. Then, I'll place a genjutsu on the rest. Naruto will have to go down quietly though." _The troubled male started to make his way to the Uzumaki.

"Ugh... so tired... I have to... have to stay awake and... and take out the bad guys..." came Naruto's exhausted words from a short distance away.

Sasuke smirked in amusement. _"Idiot. You're always trying to be the hero."_ In truth, the Uchiha was somewhat relieved. Naruto's awareness was lower because of his stubbornness which meant that this would be easier for Sasuke. Not that he thought he'd lose in a real battle with his best friend, but things would be a whole lot easier right now if he left quickly and noiselessly.

The Uzumaki came into view, attempting to keep his drooping lids open.

"Dobe," Sasuke called a few feet away from the whiskered male.

"Wh-What?" Naruto questioned while rubbing his blue eyes. "Oh, it's you. What do you want? I'm busy keeping you guys safe!"

_"And you're doing a great job of it," _Sasuke commented sarcastically in his head. "Well you'd be doing better if you help me take care of a problem."

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

Sasuke pointed behind them towards the campsite and stepped closer to Naruto. "I'm pretty sure there are enemies approaching from behind. I don't want to wake anyone else up. We can handle them by ourselves. It's only a small pack."

The Uzumaki hopped to a crouching position and scoped out the area. "I don't need your help. I can do this by myself. Where are they coming from?" he finished drowsily.

Sasuke pointed once more. "There."

"I don't see anything."

"Look harder!" Sasuke whispered, sounding annoyed.

He inched forward a bit and tried to focus his tired eyes on the place his best friend indicated. "Are you sure th-UMPH!" The Uzumaki fell flat on his back, holding his now bloody nose. "WHA-!"

Sasuke jumped on top of the male and put a hand around his teammate's throat. "Naruto, when your consciousness returns get out of here and take everyone else with you. The enemy won't be a problem after tonight."

"What are you- ACK- doing?!" he was able to croak out.

"Saving all of you," Sasuke answered before delivering the knockout blow. His friend's body went limp against the ground and the Uchiha released his grip on Naruto's throat. Sasuke sighed and dusted his hands off. He surveyed the campsite to make sure no one's slumber had been disturbed and to his satisfaction, all was still. The male prepared to cast a genjutsu onto his comrades, one that would definitely give him time to get to his destination without disturbance. Right when everything would be set, the last of his clan stopped. His mismatched eyes landed on a certain pink-haired medic. He only allowed himself to take a few seconds to study her sleeping form before he snapped himself out of the trance and longing feelings. Sasuke put his hands together in a seal and placed the genjutsu onto his comrades, trying to keep any emotions from flaring up inside his chest.

The conflicted Uchiha stood in place for a minute after, taking a moment to compose himself. It was then that the male turned and never, not once, looked back. It would only bring unwanted pain into his heart.

* * *

Sasuke heard the last of the opening slam shut behind him. He'd immediately traveled through the cave hole and continued on at a brisk pace, wanting to put as much distance in between him and his sleeping comrades as possible. After the Uchiha was a hundred yards or so away from where the opening had been, he stopped and surveyed the area around him. "No crystals," he observed quietly. The dark-haired male put his bandana around his head and activated the Sharingan, or tried. "Ack!" he grunted out as pain shot through his mismatched orbs. _"I can't use my eyes again, just like before. He's doing this. It's all just a cruel game to you, isn't it, Kurushimi?" _A string of curses escaped his lips. "Fine, have it your way," he muttered angrily while stomping along the wide path.

An hour later, the path ended. Sasuke stared at the cave wall in front of him, confusion written all over his features. He looked everywhere in front of him, trying to find another opening. Nothing. Suddenly, the damp rock he was facing seperated and made a hole big enough for him to walk through, just like the "door" he came through to get in the caves. He scowled and wondered, _"Are you watching me?"_ The Uchiha found no answer to this question and had no way to figure it out at the moment. His frown deepened and he stepped into the new hole. What he saw made his lips seperate slightly. He had walked into a very large area, one like he'd seen on his first journey into the hideout with his comrades. Pillars were left and right all around, small holes in the high ceiling letting moonlight in, rocks jutting out of the walls, moss growing on quite a few of them. Sasuke even heard the sound of water trickling across a few of the rocks. To him, if the situation was under different circumstances, it almost seemed like a peaceful, beautiful place.

He sighed and trudged on, trying to ignore most of his surroundings. His efforts proved to be futile as his attention latched on to a particularly large spot of dim light in the middle of the cave. Once he reached it, the Uchiha looked up with a puzzled expression. The moon's light came out of an open chunk of the ceiling, illuminating the spot he stood on. It made his thoughts travel, that light... _"No, __I have to keep going," _he commanded himself silently. With that, he reluctantly forced his feet to move forward once more. He kept repeating the words "Don't think about anything else but this mission" in his mind. The Uchiha hated every bit of this, especially that his eyes were useless at the moment.

Crack.

It was a very faint sound, one that Sasuke strained his ears to hear. He halted and pivoted on his heel, flinging a kunai in the process.

Clang!

The kunai was deflected and hit the ground with a thud. The cave filled with silence, Sasuke and the other person staring at each other soundlessly. He couldn't see the other very well because of where he stood. "I don't feel like fighting right now, so why don't you come where I can see you and tell me what you want."

The figure took a shy step forward. Another and another, until they were in the dim moonlight.

Sasuke's eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock. The surprise he felt was more because he hadn't detected the person rather than who it was. "What are you doing here?" he asked quietly.

"I knew something was up..."

His frown returned. "Sakura, how did you-?"

"Like I said," she interrupted, "I knew something was wrong. You never caught the real me in your genjutsu."

"You shouldn't be here," he spoke in a low monotone.

Her voice came out as a harsh whisper. "Why? What are you doing?" He narrowed his eyes, and in that look, she knew exactly what the Uchiha's plan was. "Sasuke, you don't need to do this to protect us. We can fight together. We can win."

"No, you almost got killed yesterday. I'm not going to risk that again. If we continue to fight, we'll all get killed eventually. It's better this way. Kurushimi said he'd leave everyone else alone if I give myself up. None of you will have to suffer for my wrongdoings anymore. Leave Sakura."

"No!" she shouted, taking another step towards him. Sasuke saw that she was about to cry. "I know I can't stop you physically, but... Sasuke... please don't go. You promised that you wouldn't do anything stupid."

"This isn't stupid," he responded with traces of anger in his voice. All he wanted now was for the Haruno to leave. It would make this a million times easier. "I'm trying to save you, let you live. My life has no worth anyway. The only thing I can do is destroy and cause pain."

Sakura shook her head as tears began to roll down her cheeks. "That's not true and you know it. Sasuke, your life has just as much value as everyone else's. And... without you... I won't be happy... No matter what you do or say... I love you..."

Sasuke averted his eyes from her, not knowing what else to do or say. Feelings he'd been trying to shut away, to put under lock and key, seemed to be prying at the chains, attempting to break free of their confinements. He heard her take a few hesitant steps forward so that she was out of the spot of dim light. "Leave," he repeated. "I have no choice in doing this." Sasuke knew he probably needed to take action soon, but he wanted to try and talk her out of it, even though he knew it wouldn't work.

"Sasuke-" She stopped when he looked up at her, onyx and purple meeting emerald.

Sasuke smirked for a moment. "Hn..." His lips settled into a small frown. "There's so much I still wanted you to know, but... I can't now. I waited too long..." He recalled many of his comrades' words saying not to put it off. Of course, Sasuke was too stubborn to listen to them. All of his hidden emotions burst out of their cage at once. It was then that Sasuke truly realized this might be the last time he'd see her in this world, and pangs of sorrow mixed with regret surged through his body. He needed to leave now, but not without making sure she knew first.

Sakura stared at the Uchiha with confusion and worry. She hoped her confession had been enough to stop him and she saw that he was visibly shaken by it. However, she also knew that his intentions were fully set on leaving. Nonetheless, she could see something else there, something that wasn't normal for the usually stoic male. Sakura gasped when he disappeared. The medic surveyed the area around her for any sign of the dark-haired male, afraid that he was gone for good and she'd failed. A light breeze hit her and the man reappeared only a foot or so in front of the kunoichi. Their eyes met again for the millionth time that day, but there was more meaning in it than ever this time.

"Before I go, there is something that I need you to know," Sasuke said while slowly raising his right arm. She remained unmoving as he placed his calloused hand on her tear stained cheek. He moved closer so that they could feel each other's warm breath hit their faces. "But, I'm really bad with words." With this, he closed his eyes and leaned forward to gently press his lips against hers.

Sakura was definitely surprised by the Uchiha's words and actions. Everyone told her that he felt this way and she even suspected it herself sometimes, but it was actually happening now and it was difficult for her to comprehend the fact that he was kissing her, for real this time. Sakura finally closed her eyes and slowly moved her arms up Sasuke's chest and around his neck. Sasuke removed his hand from her cheek and instead used it to pull her closer, deepening their kiss. In that moment, it was just them. The rest of the world didn't matter, Sakura wasn't trying to stop him, and Sasuke wasn't leaving. All they were focused on in that instant was each other. They broke for air and Sasuke tilted his head to the side, this time crushing his lips against hers in a more heated kiss. He was making absolutely sure she knew how he felt. It was the first and most likely the very last time he would kiss her.

After what seemed like forever, Sasuke pulled his lips away from hers. He rested his forehead on Sakura's, both silent and breathing heavily. She let her hands travel from his neck to the sides of his face, still trying to take in what just happened. "W-When did you...?"

No response. He carefully gripped her wrists and placed her hands down by her sides. Then, he let go. The only contact they had was with their foreheads which were lightly pressed together.

Sakura was reluctant to open her eyes, knowing what he was thinking. "Sasuke, don't..."

"Sakura, you need to get out of here and go back with the others."

She couldn't resist the growing urge to open her emerald orbs. As soon as she lifted her lids, a swirling red eye came into view. "Don't..."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly.

The last thing she saw before everything went black was a single tear roll down the side of his face.

* * *

**Author's Note: **The feels... I will try to write the next chapter as soon as I can. I pretty much covered everything else in my first author's note. Thanks for the support! Hope you enjoyed! Please review!


	28. Sasuke's Downfall

**Author's Note:** I had trouble writing this chapter. Sorry it took so long. Enjoy!

* * *

Kenshi sighed in annoyance for perhaps the millionth time that hour. He had been waiting at the meeting point where Sasuke was supposed to arrive at an uncertain time. The swordsman had been pacing on top of the small rise in the cave for the last few minutes, attempting to occupy his boredom. He groaned loudly and plopped down on the damp rock, crossing his legs and putting a hand under his chin. Kenshi had never been a very patient person. He especially hated waiting on Kurushimi to reveal his plans. The man narrowed his eyes at the thought of his friend. _"I need to find out what he's hiding, soon... I'm not really sure how though." _He saw movement in the corner of his eye, causing him to push his last thoughts to the back of his mind. Kenshi looked up to see a very stoic male walking towards him at a leisurely pace. "Took you long enough Uchiha."

Sasuke had a slight frown as he glared menacingly at the swordsman in front of him. He had left all of his weapons and even his cloak with Sakura, deciding that he probably had no need for them anymore. The Uchiha managed to make it look as if he did not care about giving up on the outside, but on the inside, he was hurting. Rage surged through him the moment he laid eyes on Kenshi and heard his remark. "There was no need to be in a rush," Sasuke replied indifferently.

"Really?" Kenshi asked sarcastically. "I thought you would hurry, knowing that your friends' lives were on the line."

The two men ominously stared each other down for the next minute. The regret and sorrow Sasuke felt for leaving was nothing compared to the hatred he directed towards Kenshi and Kurushimi. What he mainly saw in the other man's orbs was how much Kenshi despised him. But, there was something hidden behind Kenshi's eyes, something that Sasuke couldn't easily decipher. It almost seemed to be like guilt, sadness... regret...

The swordsman noticed the microscopic change in Sasuke's features and twisted his body around so the Uchiha couldn't tell what was going on inside his head. "Let's go. Kurushimi will be waiting. You're gonna be in front of me so I can make sure you don't try something funny."

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, but obeyed soon after. The pair set off with him a couple steps ahead of the scarred male. "Tell me, what motive would I have to 'try something funny'?" No answer. Sasuke envisioned Kenshi clenching his jaw behind him. He kept quiet for quite a while after that, the only talk between them being Kenshi ordering Sasuke to turn every now and then. The last of his clan wanted the silence to end, and what better way to do it than giving his captor an "interrogation"? He looked over his shoulder and asked, "Why are you and Kurushimi so obsessed with killing me? I'd like to know if I did something wrong that I wasn't aware of."

"Tch," Kenshi scoffed, "first of all, I wouldn't be surprised if you 'forgot' about committing a crime since you've already got a long list of those. Second, to answer your question, we're trying to eliminate you so the Uchihas will cease to exist. All your CLAN has ever done is caused trouble and ruined lives."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man's last comment. The clan? "So it was my clan and not just me?" He faintly heard the sound of teeth grinding behind him. "I don't see why you're getting so angry. I just asked a simple question is all."

Kenshi tilted his head to look at the ground as they walked on. "You, your clan, whatever. Every Uchiha is a disgrace and a criminal."

Sasuke was able to keep calm, genuinely curious as to why Kenshi hated the Uchiha name so much. He could understand any hatred directed towards him, but why the entire clan? "I don't agree with you."

"Of course you wouldn't. You're one of them," Kenshi scoffed.

"I still would like to know why exactly you despise my clan so much," Sasuke said in a tone of indifference with a slight hint of curiosity. The noise of the other man's footsteps ceased and the Uchiha also came to a halt, turning to look at Kenshi. To his surprise, the swordsman gazed at him with great sorrow in his eyes.

"You of all people should know what it's like to have everything taken from you," Kenshi said.

All Sasuke could do was stare at the other male. Silence filled the caves for an unknown amount of time until Kenshi finally snapped out of his trance and commanded the Uchiha to continue walking forward. Sasuke slowly turned his back on the swordsman. He took a step forward, contemplating on how he should respond or if he should at all. They made it another hundred or so feet before the conflicted male decided to speak his mind. "You're right, I do know what it's like to lose everything, but I dealt with it the wrong way. I assume Kurushimi might have mentioned some of what I'm about to say since he's seen my memories, but there's a point to this. After the massacre, I tried to stay away from everything I thought would distract me from my goal, to avenge my clan, my mother and father. I attempted to do the same when I became a genin. However, I never expected my team to," he struggled to find the right words, "be as big of an, influence, I guess you could say. I realized later on that they became something to me that I lost long ago, a family. Nonetheless, I still had my ultimate goal in mind. Then, I had an offer to gain power. The night I left was probably the biggest mistake of my life. My life began to fall apart again that night and now I'm just trying to heal the wounds I've inflicted. It was all because I chose revenge. It didn't even matter anyway because-"

"Itachi wanted to protect you all along. You were never supposed to know the truth about him, but then another one of your clan members showed up," Kenshi finished with a scowl. "Yeah, Kurushimi already told me everything like you said. Not all of us can have a fitting end like there was for you Uchiha. We don't have friends trying to 'save' us like you did. All we have left now is revenge."

"What has the path of revenge gotten you so far?" Sasuke questioned dryly.

Kenshi was silent.

"In the end, all it leaves you with is more regret and sorrow," he continued. "I know it feels right, but you're really being deceived. My advice to you is let it go."

"What do you know about me?!" Kenshi growled. "I know all about you and your story Uchiha! It's not the same as mine!"

"Just because you've heard a tale about someone doesn't mean you know them personally," Sasuke responded with an icy tone.

"Ha!" Kenshi snorted. "I know that you were such a coward that you couldn't even tell HER how you felt. The mighty Sasuke Uchiha fails at-" The man grunted and stumbled back while rubbing his head. At first, he thought he'd carelessly run into one of the cave walls. When he looked up, he saw that what he'd actually hit was Sasuke himself, standing as still and unmoving as a brick wall.

Sasuke peered over his shoulder, red and purple eyes blazing.

Kenshi frowned. "You don't scare me."

"Don't you ever-"

"What? Talk about her? Hmph!" he huffed as the Uchiha fully turned to face him. Kenshi walked forward so that they stood about a foot away from each other, sending deadly glares back and forth. "It doesn't matter anyway since you won't see her again in this life. You're going to suffer like I did back then. After what happened to me, I made a promise to myself and to someone else that I'd never let it happen again, but you're an exception."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "An exception?"

"Yes, an exception," Kenshi sneered. "You've committed many crimes, so I figured why not make you suffer the same way I did?"

"Where does that leave you?! What about your crimes?!" Sasuke shouted, his voice rising in anger. "Just because something tragic happened to you doesn't mean you have the right to take it out on other people!"

"I'm not releasing my anger on other people! I'm trying to make the world a better place by killing you! Kurushimi and I, that's what we've wanted ever since we lost everything!"

"How many people have you killed or hurt in the process?! How many families have you torn apart?!"

Kenshi looked taken aback. "W-!"

"Everyone saw what Kurushimi displayed at the festival! You and his 'army' were attacking villages!"

The swordsman was anchored to his spot, failing to prevent an expression of horror from appearing.

"Why are you acting shocked?!" Sasuke growled in fury.

"K-Keep moving," Kenshi was able to croak out. "Go!" he said when Sasuke did not budge.

Reluctantly, the Uchiha twisted around and began to walk once more. He'd hit a nerve in the man, that was for sure. There was still a lot to learn about Kenshi and Kurushimi though, but at this point, it might not matter.

* * *

Kurushimi racked his brains trying to think of what to do next. He desperately needed something, and soon. The man gripped his hair with shaking hands, getting more frustrated by the second. He closed his strange eyes and slowly took deep breaths. "Calm down," he whispered to himself urgently. After another exhale, he continued. "This has never happened before and it's probably because I've never used them so much all at once. I'm overreacting." Kurushimi regained his composure and removed his hands from his head. The moment Kenshi left to retrieve Sasuke, the male went to work. The painful throbbing in his eyes that happened recently had begun to make him worry. He gazed into the large fountain-like rock he'd made in the cave not too long ago. The substance he poured into the rock glowed a light blue. Kurushimi rolled up a sleeve and gently traced a line through the substance, watching it ripple like water. When he pulled his hand out, it was not wet.

Kurushimi's hands tightly gripped the rock in fury and realization. That was it, the same substance he recognized from so long ago. It was the one that had changed everything, from the day that had altered the course of his entire life. He remembered another substance on that day, a different one Kenshi knew very well. The difference between the two men was that Kurushimi considered his more of a curse than a gift. Kenshi could hide his easier, fit in well. He was an entirely different story. "Solitude," Kurushimi muttered under his breath, "that's all we've had since then." A wide frown settled on his lips. Looking down into the pool of light blue, it made his thoughts drift back to that dreadful time.

_All he could do was scream and writhe around on the floor in agonizing pain. He covered his eyes and felt tears rolling down his cheeks as he continued to howl. "WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!" _

Kurushimi shuddered at the memory and broke out into a cold sweat, his entire body beginning to tremble. The shaken male pressed his forehead to the rock and bit his lip. "I still have to try even if it means remembering what happened back then," he said to himself. The man inhaled sharply. His eyes shifted to the separated black portion of the light blue substance. "There's no way I'll be able to know for sure if it'll work on Sasuke until I actually get the chance to use it on him. I'll only have one shot and there will be lots of casualties, but they won't be in vain. I can finally put an end to the Uchiha clan, once and for all." A devilish smirk appeared on his lips. "I'll use your clan's worst nightmare against you Sasuke. It's all in the plan..."

* * *

_"Don't..."_

_"I'm sorry..."_

_Sakura hit his chest and fell into a state of being half conscious. She fought hard against the genjutsu he had placed on her, but there was no hope of fully breaking it. Even she, resistant to most genjutsu, could not get out of one this caliber. Nonetheless, the kunoichi kept trying and refused to completely fall under the influence of the illusion. As a result, she was somewhat aware of the things that happened after that. The Haruno felt him gently grab her arms and wrap them around his neck prior to positioning her head to where it rested upon his shoulder. Sasuke then placed his hands under her thighs and hoisted her up. Sakura couldn't tell what went on for a while after that, but she knew they were moving. Finally, the pink-haired woman felt her back on hard ground and heard Sasuke sigh. She faintly caught the sound of shuffling and small clinking noises beside her before something soft was laid on top of her. _

_"Hn... Sakura Uchiha... That has a nice ring to it, don't you think...?"_

_Footsteps followed. Sakura tried to continue fighting the genjutsu, but she finally gave out._

The woman reached up and pressed her hand against her forehead. Sakura opened her eyes after remembering the events of the previous night.

"Sasuke."

She immediately sat up and looked in every direction. The Uchiha was no where to be seen. The kunoichi tightly grasped the soft item that had been laid on top of her. She looked down at it and gasped. It was the cloak she had gotten for him. Sakura lightly ran her fingertips over the Uchiha crest, a frown settling on her lips.

_"Sakura Uchiha..."_

She blushed, remembering Sasuke's comment. "Why?" the medic whispered to herself. "You didn't have to do this..." Sakura reached out to plant her palm on the ground behind her so that she could get a boost up, but instead of the ground, her hand hit an object. She twisted her head around to see that it was his sword along with whatever other weapons and items the Uchiha deemed unnecessary, including his headband. Grabbing the hilt, Sakura carefully placed the weapon in her lap and studied the item. She saw markings indicating the way he liked to grip the weapon and pressed the tips of her fingers to them. Staring at the spots, she remembered how his calloused hand had felt against her cheek right before he kissed her. Sakura's eyes widened.

Sasuke Uchiha had kissed her.

Her head fell to stare at the ground.

_"Before I go, there is something that I need you to know."_

"Sasuke, you really feel that way?" she whispered to herself. The thought seemed so unbelievable, yet so obvious at the same time. "You idiot," Sakura whispered to herself, tears slipping out of the corners of her eyes. "You're so stupid." She smiled sorrowfully. "You need to stop breaking your promises Sasuke." Her grip on his sword increased. "I think I'm about to break one I made to you though. What I'm going to do will seem very stupid to you, but I'm not letting you do this." With this, the kunoichi threw his cloak around her shoulders, attached his sword to her side, and put the other weapons and belongings he had left into a bag on her hip. Sakura put a hand on the necklace he'd given her, gently grasping it. _"You're usually the one saving me Sasuke. Now it's time I save you."_

* * *

Naruto faintly heard the sound of birds chirping. He hesitantly opened his eyes a crack, head throbbing. _"What the...? I thought I was guarding and it was dark," _the whiskered male thought to himself. Pain continued to shoot through his head and the Uzumaki gritted his teeth while raising a hand to touch the spot. "Ow!" he yelped in surprise. "How did I...?" Naruto's eyes slowly began to widen. Everything was coming back to him.

"SASUKE!"

Birds and small animals flew or ran away from the loud disturbing noise. The Uzumaki's comrades began to stir from their sleep.

"WAKE UP GUYS! I HAVE TO GO AND BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF THAT IDIOT!"

"Shut up Naruto!" Kiba yelled in annoyance. "What are you-?"

"I'M GONNA KILL SASUKE!"

The rest of the group glanced at each other in confusion and began to look around. Gaara and Kakashi's gazes met, panic visible in their eyes when they noticed the Uchiha was no where in sight. All attention then shifted to Naruto, whose fists were clinched so tight that his knuckles were white.

_"Naruto, when your consciousness returns get out of here and take everyone else with you. The enemy won't be a problem after tonight."_

Naruto finished recalling his teammate's words from the night before, his teeth brutally grinding together. "Like heck I will," he muttered to himself, "I didn't spend all that time trying to save you for you to just throw everything away Sasuke." He felt the stares hitting his back and slowly turned around with a grave yet furious expression.

Silence filled the area for a minute before Naruto finally spoke. "Sasuke... He's gone... He gave himself up to Kurushimi... to save everyone..."

People around the clearing tried to stifle their surprised gasps. Naruto started to shout many curses out of frustration. Further away from the main group, Sai was showing a slightly shocked expression at Naruto's statement. The pale shinobi studied the environment until he found Sasuke's sleeping bag. He narrowed his eyes and noticed another object close to the bag. Sai made his way to the peculiar item and stepped over the Uchiha's sleeping bag, only to find another sleeping bag. The male's jaw dropped an inch at the realization. A hand gently landed on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" Ino asked softly.

"It appears Sasuke is not our only missing comrade."

The Yamanaka stared at her boyfriend in confusion. He pointed at the other empty sleeping bag and she put a hand over her mouth. "No, she didn't," Ino breathed. She looked in all directions, trying to spot her pink-haired friend. "Sakura went after him," the woman said loudly, causing all heads to turn to her. Once again, everyone saw that another one of their comrades was no where to be found.

Naruto twisted his head to the side so he could peer over his shoulder. A small smile crept its way onto his lips. _"I've never really understood how you can love him so much Sakura." _The Uzumaki started to chuckle, which quickly morphed into a booming laugh that filled the entire area. When he finally stopped, Naruto jumped onto a high rock with a gigantic smirk. The shinobi below knew exactly what was going to happen next. The son of the Fourth Hokage made a fist with one hand and slapped the other against it. "It's funny ya know. Sasuke actually thinks I'll listen to him about something like this. It's even crazier how he thinks I'll let him get himself killed!" Naruto lowered his voice. "Sakura is somewhere in there. She won't let that jerk do this and neither will I." He averted his eyes away from the sky and towards the two Kages. "When do we move out?"

Kakashi put a hand under his masked chin. "There are a few problems. We don't know where another entrance-"

"That's easy! We'll just make one!" Naruto shouted.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the ground. _"Sasuke obviously used a powerful genjutsu on everyone, but he must've released it when he entered the caves. Sakura was already asleep by the time I laid down though. Either she broke out of the genjutsu or he failed to capture her in it. Either way, both of them are inside the enemy's hideout."_

"Would it be wise to make an abrupt entrance?" Gaara inquired. "We do not know where Sasuke and Sakura are located and there are more of the enemy than there are of us. Not to mention, the next time we face the enemy, they will supposedly be more of a challenge."

"Oh please! We can take em! You know I've never backed down from a challenge and I'm not gonna start now!" Naruto declared. "They're the ones who don't stand a chance against us!" He turned around to face the massive structure. "Get ready, because we're about to join the fight again!"

* * *

Kurushimi fell to his knees and gripped his eyes, hissing at the stinging sensation. It gave him a flash of the past, but it hurt a lot less than back then. He guessed it was because there was no change for his eyes to undergo now, or at least he hoped not. _"This has to work. I need them to work perfectly for what's going to happen. I also need to see if this 'evil liquid' I've been experimenting with works on Sasuke." _

There was a knock on the door of his room.

Kurushimi wiped the sweat off his brow and climbed to his feet. The man gripped the edge of the fountain-like object in an attempt to regain his balance. He removed the other hand from his strange orbs and slowly opened them. Kurushimi smirked. "I already feel the power coming back." A couple of seconds later, the man left the small room with the fountain and made sure to close the door behind him. He hurried to the other door closing his room off from the hallway and quickly opened it so the person on the other side wouldn't knock again. "What is it?"

A member of his army stood in the doorway with his mouth set into a straight line. His eyes were trained on Kurushimi's as he straightened his back. "Lord Kurushimi, Lord Kenshi told me to find you. He didn't say why."

"I have a pretty good idea. Thank you," he finished and set off.

* * *

Sasuke stood in silence beside Kenshi. He noticed during the entire trip into the hideout that something seemed weird about the master swordsman. Kenshi appeared to be on edge. It was obvious there was something bothering him by how tense his features were and the ominous look in his eyes. _"Maybe our argument earlier set him off. No, it's not just that. There's a lot more to it," _Sasuke thought. Before he could ponder further, a sound on the opposite side of the room caught his attention. The two men twisted around and their eyes landed on Kurushimi, who was slowly clapping, a smirk plastered to his features. The man with strange eyes walked through a large sort of archway leading to the vast room in which the two males had been standing.

"Sasuke Uchiha," Kurushimi said in acknowledgment, followed by a series of slow claps.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, giving a deadly glare to the man that had caused every bit of trouble since his return.

Kurushimi chuckled and shook his head while lowering his hands. "Bravo, you made the correct decision and saved your friends."

"Ah," he responded icily with a one syllable answer.

"I hope you gave our guest a warm welcome Kenshi."

The swordsman rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, giving a "tch" as he did so. "Sure, we'll go with that."

"Hate to ruin the mood," Sasuke began sarcastically, "but if you don't mind I'd like some answers." He gave a pointed stare to Kurushimi.

The man adjusted the robe he wore and ruffled his dark hair with one hand. "Hm, depends on the question."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, the corners of his lips tugging downward to form a deep frown. This little "mystery" as to why they hated his clan so much was about to be solved. He was determined to make them reveal something. "Okay then. Why are you so focused on killing me?"

Kurushimi sighed heavily out of sheer annoyance. "I'm positive we've been over this countless times... Nonetheless, I guess I'll have to remind you once more. We despise the Uchiha name because every single one of you is a foolish, evil, thieving murderer."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "All of us, huh? Care to elaborate?"

A chuckle left the man's lips. "I have an endless list of examples. Just to name a few though, you, your brother, Madara, and-"

Sasuke easily detected the loud hitch in the male's breathing. Peering to the side, he caught a glimpse of Kenshi's fists clenching and unclenching. He recalled the scarred man's words from earlier.

_"You of all people should know what it's like to have everything taken from you."_

Sasuke wanted to question further, but the comment about Itachi could not be taken lightly. "My brother-"

"Gave everything up so you could live, we know," Kurushimi interrupted. He shifted his troubled gaze to the cold rock below his feet. "But how many crimes did he commit in the process? How many lives did he take or ruin?"

Sasuke opened his mouth to speak, fire back a shot of his own to defend his deceased older brother, but no words left his lips. Instead, he was silent. The Uchiha finally shook his head and decided to return to the previous topic. "Who did it? Who... stole something from you?"

Kurushimi shifted his multicolored gaze from the ground to Sasuke. He attempted to hide his aggravated expression with no luck. "That doesn't matter. He's dead."

"We got our revenge," Kenshi muttered unconsciously. He immediately glanced at Kurushimi. To his satisfaction, his friend had not caught the slip. What he didn't know was that the enemy beside him heard the line clearly. The master swordsman huffed and sneered, spitting on the ground a moment later.

"So you killed the Uchiha who took something from you?"

In the quiet air around him, Sasuke swore he could feel the tension rising. The moment Kurushimi snapped was probably the loudest silent sound the Uchiha had ever heard. One second, Sasuke was standing upright, unharmed and puzzled. The next, he was stumbling backwards, dazed and bleeding. The sharp dagger had appeared faster than he could blink, piercing through the skin of his right shoulder in an instant. Sasuke grunted in pain as he attempted to remove the weapon with no luck. Kurushimi pushed his hand out further, making the object agonizingly sink deeper into his body. The furious man lifted his other arm and a second dagger was created out of thin air. The weapon was sent sailing and it plunged into a stunned Uchiha's left thigh. Sasuke collapsed and fell to his knees, trying to hold back a cry of pain. His vision returned to normal, no longer seeing double. "Y-You copied m-my memories again?!" he was able to get out. Everything that happened with Sakura the last time he saw her came back all at once and when it went away, he had seen double. Kurushimi had taken that moment to attack. Sasuke was about to retaliate when two objects ensnared themselves around both of his wrists, tugging them away from his body until they could not reach any further. He looked left and right to discover that his wrists were tied and connected to chains linked to stakes in the ground, all of the materials the same light shade of blue Sasuke recognized as Kurushimi's chakra. He struggled violently against his confinements as Kurushimi stalked forward, the look of a wild animal about to devour its prey in his eyes.

Kenshi watched with his jaw hanging open as the scene unfolded. He stared on as Kurushimi grabbed a handful of Sasuke's dark hair, forcing the male to look up at him.

"You think that hurts?! This is just the beginning!"

A swirling red eye appeared to match the purple one as Sasuke's blood started to boil. There was no way he was going to be beaten like this. Kurushimi retracted his hand just as a wall of black fire separated him from the Uchiha. He hurriedly jumped back to gain some distance. The man's features relaxed and he smirked knowingly. "Would you like to take a moment to remember why you're here Sasuke? I wouldn't fight back if I were you. She's still in the cave system isn't she?"

Rage overcame the last of his clan as he once again struggled wildly against the chakra chains holding him down.

"Your last moments with her were quite touching. Hm, a goodbye kiss? How bitter sweet and heartbreaking."

"Shut up!" Sasuke shouted, unable to restrain himself anymore.

Kenshi continued to study each male, his eyes moving back and forth between them rapidly. He averted his gaze downward after Kurushimi's last mocking comment. _"Goodbye kiss..." _He bit down hard on his lower lip. _"That brings back too much..." _Thoughts from the argument with the Uchiha returned to his mind. _"I did make a promise not to let that happen to anyone ever again... but I also said he was an exception..." _His hand automatically slapped against his forehead. A painful throbbing sensation took over, fueled by his frustration. _"Why?! Why does everything have to be so difficult?!"_

Kurushimi laughed harder. "Don't think I won't be able to find your beloved Sakura!"

Sasuke was now pulling so viciously at the chakra chains that droplets of blood dripped across his raw wrists, but he couldn't care less at the moment. "Don't you dare! I'll kill you if you touch her!"

The man heaved and panted, cackling. He bent over and grabbed his knees while still laughing. "What makes you think I'll listen to you?!"

"Fight me!" Sasuke growled. "Fight me right now in a fair match!"

Kurushimi fell silent and Kenshi gave a look of disbelief to the wounded Uchiha.

"Let's end this!"

The two friends glanced at each other multiple times.

"You think you can defeat me in your current state?" Kurushimi questioned, genuinely curious. "I easily put you in the situation you're in now, not to mention your injuries."

"I don't care! You're just a coward hiding behind your eyes. That's the only thing you have. They're the only reason you have any power at all. Without them, you're nothing Kurushimi," Sasuke spoke darkly. He saw anger flash through the multicolored orbs of the enemy. However, the older male was free of hostility a moment later.

"Sorry to disappoint you Sasuke," he began, "but I'll have to pass on your offer. I have other, things, that need to be taken care of."

Sasuke gritted his teeth in fury and opened his mouth to start shouting profanities at the man when Kenshi put a hand in front of his friend.

"I'll fight him," the male stated boldly.

Kurushimi gazed in wonder and awe at the scarred male. "Kenshi-"

"It won't take too long. He's injured anyway. Also, I finally have a chance to reveal my true ability to him."

Sasuke's interest peaked and he stilled.

An indifferent line was set on the swordsman's lips. "Your Sharingan couldn't keep up with me in our previous matches. However, in our last encounter you caught a glimpse of something with a light blue shade of color."

Sasuke narrowed his mismatched eyes.

Kenshi lazily removed the robe he was wearing and tossed it aside, exposing his regular battle attire. "You see, Kurushimi and I, we received our gifts or curses at the same time. His is more extraordinary than mine, but my ability can be much more useful. My enhanced speed has helped me win countless fights. Do you know what it's original use was for?" He paused to crack his knuckles. "To 'confuse' the Sharingan."

A baffled look landed on Sasuke's features. "Confuse the Sharingan?"

A nod. "That's correct. The man who made the 'drug' my speed came from loved to study the Uchiha clan. He always believed they were the strongest ninjas in the world. He wondered if there was a way to make someone as strong as an Uchiha and began to experiment, test things. That man is no longer alive thanks to-"

"Kenshi!" Kurushimi snapped, grasping the speaker's shoulder tightly.

He shrugged the hand off and stepped away. "Back to the main point. Yes, the drug was made specifically to counter your dojutsu, but it works just fine in regular battles. Not only did I receive great speed, but my TRUE ability is the one that allows me to confuse the Sharingan. You are currently the only person who possesses the Sharingan. If I did not have this ability, I'd have to rely on only my speed to outrun your dojutsu. That makes it a lot more complicated. But, I have this." A cloak of light blue color illuminated off of the man's body when he finished, much more visible than their last encounter. "My true ability. I didn't want to make it too obvious that I had more than just high speed. That's why I've hardly used it against you. When I have, I made sure it was barely detectable, but that only permitted me to counter the Sharingan so much. Heh, now we get to the serious part. I'm willing to make a little bet."

Sasuke narrowed his purple and crimson orbs. "A bet?"

"If I win the fight, no catch, just the satisfaction of beating you again. If you win," he smirked devilishly, "you can walk out of here with no one to stop you. In fact, I'll let you go for good. You never have to worry about us ever again. Just get out of here and be happy with Sakura and your friends."

Kurushimi gasped in bewilderment. "Kenshi, what are you doing?!"

"Trust me."

Sasuke had no clue who was more shocked, Kurushimi or himself? "No catch if you win?"

He shook his head. "The only stipulation I have is that our fight will be hand-to-hand combat only. I won't use my sword and you won't use Susano'o, but most other things your eyes can do are allowed."

_"That's odd. I just noticed that I've been able to use my eyes. In fact, I was able to when I placed the genjutsu on Sakura, but not when I entered the caves. Kenshi is completely confident that he's going to win. I just have to be extra careful. If I accept I won't be able to use Susano'o. He's told me about his ability though. I guess that's sort of an advantage for me. I just need to figure out how to counter it. Maybe if I can catch him I'll get a chance to steal some of his chakra or I can copy some of his moves. If I win, I can leave and they won't be a problem... There's no way Kurushimi will let me go... I can try to take both of them out..."_

Kenshi watched with bored eyes as the Uchiha weighed his options. There was no possible way he could lose this fight, no chance whatsoever of it happening. Guaranteed victories, he loved those.

"I accept your offer and the stipulation."

A wicked smirk grew on Kenshi's lips.

Kurushimi's eyes flicked back and forth between the two men. He pursed his lips and studied his friend's confident expression. The abilities Kenshi possessed had been witnessed by Kurushimi countless times, each opponent he faced being defeated at the conclusion of each battle. He did not doubt his long time comrade's potential to win, but the contradicting thought invading his mind was that Sasuke was an Uchiha. Sure, he knew the purpose of the man's power was to be "even" in a fight against an Uchiha but it had only truly served that purpose once before, and the man with strange eyes had been a big help in that encounter. Although, Sasuke had only just been told the secret of Kenshi's true ability. He couldn't have possibly deciphered how to make a counterattack for it in a matter of minutes. That was information only known to the swordsman and himself. In the Uchiha and swordsman's previous battles, Kurushimi made Kenshi tone it down and not use his ability too much, but now Kenshi could use it freely to its full extent? The man sighed and lowered his hands, Sasuke's confinements fading along with the daggers piercing his body.

Sasuke grunted and studied his injuries. They would definitely affect his movements and he silently cursed himself for letting Kurushimi easily subdue him.

Kenshi chuckled. "I'll go easy on you since you're wounded."

Sasuke immediately discarded the painful expression that rested on his face and stood up, stifling the grunt he released so it sounded like a throaty growl. "Don't insult me."

He bit back a sharp reply, rolling his eyes instead. The light blue coating his body flashed brightly.

Kurushimi jumped to the side, anticipating what was about to happen.

"You can make the first move," Kenshi said with a bored tone.

Sasuke studied the environment and thought of a strategy. He started out with a fast walk that quickly became a run.

Kenshi watched his opponent closely. _"I still need to be on guard. Just because he's hurt doesn't mean I can slack off." _His eyes were steadily trained on the Uchiha as he continued to rush forward. _"He's going to attack me head on?" _Just as Kenshi prepared to block, Sasuke vanished. He gasped and looked in every direction, turning around to be met by a sandal to the nose, making him fly back. He skidded to a halt, a hand on his bloody face.

The tension in Kurushimi's shoulders rose. _"If you lose Kenshi..." _The man began to drum his fingers against his thighs.

Sasuke smirked. "Nice ability."

Kenshi cursed under his breath, wiping away a fresh stream of blood trickling down his lips. "You shouldn't be so cocky Uchiha. I haven't gotten started yet." He removed his hand. _"I always underestimate that Rinnegan. My ability can't do anything to counter that. Relax. All I have to do is let my true ability take over when I use my speed. He won't know how to fight it. Heck, this can't even be called a fight. This might be the only chance I get to completely destroy him though... If there is a next time, Sasuke will probably have figured out how it works by then. It'll be all over after this though so this may very well be our last battle. Kurushimi has won." _He stood straight up. "It's my turn." With this, he pushed off and rocketed forward, reaching Sasuke in an instant. The man rapidly punched and kicked at his opponent.

Sasuke was already struggling to keep up. The man's movements were blurs to him. If he were without his Sharingan though, it was likely he'd be beaten to a pulp in a matter of seconds. What was the point of using his clan's dojutsu if it hardly assisted him in this battle though? _"Better than nothing._ _Normal opponents would have lost by now," _Sasuke thought. He caught Kenshi's foot in one hand and his fist in the other. His opponent planted his free foot on the ground and swung towards Sasuke's face with his fist. All of this happened in a flash.

Sasuke desperately watched the blur that was Kenshi's fist. He had been blocking the other moves his opponent tried by blocking closer to his body where it would hit. This time, the Uchiha decided to aim straight for Kenshi's fist and catch it instead of shielding his chin. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Sasuke reached out, beginning to close his hand around his opponent's fist. His eyes nearly popped out of his skulll when the hand he'd used to grab Kenshi's went right through it. "Ack!" He landed ten feet away from where he originally stood, still rolling across the ground. He finally found his footing and hurriedly pushed himself up, only to discover that Kenshi was already there. Sasuke received another blow to the chin, this time by a sandal. He was sent sailing high in the air. _"Is that what he meant by confusing the Sharingan?!" _

Kenshi laughed behind his opponent's head, drawing back his leg for another blow.

_"H-How can he be behind me a-already?! This is w-why he didn't want m-me to use S-Susano'o," _Sasuke realized. His body bent at an unnatural angle as the man's kick hit him squarely in the spine. The last of his clan flew towards the ground, urgently thinking of a way to fight back. _"It's no use... There's nothing I can do..." _He opened his eyes and saw Kenshi waiting for him on the ground. Sasuke did the best he could to brace for what was about to happen. It was the finishing blow.

Kenshi's knee met Sasuke's gut with a powerful impact. All the air left his lungs in an instant. It felt like every bone in his body had just been rearranged. The environment surrounding him appeared to be shaking as if an earthquake bore down on the place. The only thing supporting Sasuke was Kenshi's knee. His fingers lightly grazed the cold ground and his head was slumped, feet lazily settling on the ground. He breathed heavily, willing the air to return to his lungs.

"Watch your feet Uchiha," Kenshi said, his knee still in place.

A hand harshly gripped Sasuke's hair when Kenshi finally removed his leg.

Kurushimi smiled darkly. "What a pleasure, being here to witness the downfall of the mighty Sasuke Uchiha." He let go of the male's hair, letting him collapse onto the hard rock, utterly defeated.

Sasuke felt the impending darkness rapidly approaching him. His eyes tried to close of their own accord. How could he have been beaten that easily, that quickly?! There was just no way. He thought of how many times his teammates and comrades declared that they could win if they fought together. Even if there was a chance of it, he couldn't bear it if they suffered because of him, especially Sakura. That's when it hit him that she was still in the cave system and Kurushimi's threats invaded his mind once more. _"Please be safe... Sakura..."_

Everything went black and Sasuke fell unconscious.

* * *

Sakura cautiously peeked around the corner. On the other side of the large area, there were two men casually chatting. She sighed and turned around, sliding down the cold wall. _"I assume that's the entrance to the main part of the hideout. How do I get past them though? Maybe there's another way in. I don't want to be detected." _She tightly gripped the collar of Sasuke's cloak along with the hilt of his sword.

"Sasuke, just hang on a little longer," Sakura whispered to herself.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Yeah, I guess I'm sort of making the villains out to be godlike at the moment, but everything will be explained soon. Answers will be revealed. As I mentioned in the first author's note, I had trouble writing this chapter so sorry if it seemed rushed. Anyway, happy holidays to everyone! Thanks for the support! Please review!


	29. Light Blue

**Author's Note: **I apologize if there are some grammatical errors in this chapter. I feel pretty sick right now while I'm editing but I really want to update. Enjoy!

* * *

"No more 'bets' Kenshi," Kurushimi ordered with a glare in the other man's direction.

"What?" he shrugged. "That couldn't have even been considered a fight! Look at him now!" He gestured towards his unconscious enemy.

"I don't care. Besides," he smirked, "it's my job to torture him."

Kenshi frowned at Sasuke's form. The only sign that the Uchiha was still alive was the small rise and fall of his body when he breathed. "Haven't we already done enough?"

Kurushimi was silent for a fleeting moment and then broke out into a booming laugh. "That's a great joke Kenshi." He raised an arm and his chakra appeared, morphing into shackles around Sasuke's wrists while attaching to a plate on the ground, also made by his chakra. This made the Uchiha's position change slightly so it looked like he was bowing, head pressed against the cold rock. Kurushimi turned to Kenshi. "You're on watch duty."

"Watch duty?!" the man shouted in surprise. "What's he gonna do?! He's unconscious!"

He placed a hand under his chin, closing his eyes in thought. "True. I've also made it to where my chakra chains steal his chakra. That's how it holds and how he'll stay restrained. His dojutsus will be useless partly because of this and his weakened state. The other reason is I've fooled with his eyes once more."

Kenshi raised an eyebrow. "How do you do that anyway?"

"Many ways. I'll tell you later. Right now I have some, experimenting, to do." With this, the man with strange eyes walked towards the archway leading into the main hideout. "Oh, by the way, none of our 'helpers' should come this way. If they do, don't be afraid to eliminate them. Only we shall know about Sasuke for the time being."

Kenshi stared at the man's back as he vanished from the archway. _"Experimenting?" _He slowly turned his attention to the unconscious enemy at his feet. "Tch, watch duty," the swordsman mocked, throwing his hands into the air. "There's no point in it." Kenshi sighed heavily, staring at the blood beginning to seep through Sasuke's clothing. He stared aimlessly at the dark splotches on the man's shoulder, fingers twitching. He snorted the next instant. "You got yourself into that mess Uchiha." He knew that Sasuke could not hear him, but what else was there to cure his boredom? "You're too full of pride. Arrogant brat..." The man swallowed and crossed his arms, eyes still trained on the Uchiha's still form. "Although, I am curious. What happened before you met up with me?"

Sasuke's eyes remained closed as consciousness slowly began to return to him. He was aching all over and he was too stiff to move, pain coursing through his entire body. He wondered how long he'd been out of it. It couldn't have been a lengthy amount of time, seeing as his wounds were still quite fresh. It may have not even been ten minutes since he passed out. His head twitched slightly, forcing the male to suppress a grunt of pain. That was when he registered that someone was talking above or near him, he couldn't really pinpoint exactly where.

_"... I am curious. What happened before you met up with me?"_

The Uchiha easily recognized that voice as belonging to Kenshi. Was he just stationed here to mock him some more? Then what was that question about? Did he even know that Sasuke could hear him?

"You and her bring back a lot of memories for me," Kenshi continued, completely unaware of Sasuke's conscious state. "Of course, I was barely old enough to know what love was back then, but I realized later on how my feelings were. I really want you to know how that feels Uchiha, to suffer, lose the love of your life just like that. But, at the same time, I don't, and I'm not sure why. I'm not gonna kill her, but I'll make you remember every pleasant moment you two shared before Kurushimi decides to go through with it and put an end to the Uchiha clan once and for all."

Sasuke listened intently to the man's words, his curiosity increasing immensely at the slim details. What happened to Kenshi? He declared many times that he'd lost everything, but how? Who? His breathing hitched when he felt a cool material on the back of his neck. He did not dare to twitch.

Kenshi rested his katana on the nape of the Uchiha's neck, staring at the weapon, deep in thought. "I could just end it all for you now. Kurushimi will have a fit, but he'll eventually get over it. If I do this, you won't have to suffer anymore." The man chuckled. "I really can't comprehend why I feel like I don't want to watch you suffer. You deserve it, after all, with everything you've done... I guess it's just the old memories you force me to remember. It's torture, but yet... pleasant, being able to place myself back into those simpler times. I made a vow... I've tried over and over to make myself be content with the fact that you're an exception, but it always comes back in the end." After a minute of silence, Kenshi slowly removed his blade from Sasuke's neck.

Sasuke let out a quiet breath of relief. He couldn't fight back in his current state. He really wasn't even sure if he could manage to get into a sitting position on his own. He painfully tilted his head to the side to look at Kenshi. "What are you talking about? You keep mentioning a vow and saying I'm an exception."

Kenshi was shocked that Sasuke was conscious and it took him a second to reply. "Nothing you should care about. You're in no place to be asking questions at the moment."

"And?"

Kenshi resisted the urge to kick the man in the ribs. "Your arrogance will get you in a lot of trouble some time Uchiha."

Sasuke smirked tauntingly. "It already has many times before."

The swordsman shook his head and sheathed his katana. "What's wrong with you? I could kill you on the spot!"

"You won't. You would have done it just then if you had the urge to," Sasuke responded.

Kenshi scowled. "Keep your mouth shut or I'll-"

"You'll what Kenshi?" Sasuke spat. "You're just like me, how I used to be. A pawn in a senseless game of chess. What happens when Kurushimi kills me? Where do you go from there? What about the army? Are you sure he's even your friend, much less an ally?" A sandal harshly grinded against Sasuke's cheek as he was forced against the ground again.

"Shut up! You don't know anything about us or what we've been through! Why can't you get it through your head that you're not as powerful as you think you are Uchiha?!"

Sasuke grimaced as Kenshi removed his sandal from his cheek. He looked up at the man once more. "True, I don't know anything about you two. But I can see it in your eyes. You know the pain of losing everything. You wanted revenge, just like me. You got it, but there was just an empty hole after that. It didn't solve anything or bring anyone back. In fact, it only caused you more despair as you lost the only reason you thought you had to be alive." He managed to get to his knees, struggling with every movement.

Kenshi clenched his fists and glared daggers through the Uchiha.

Sasuke was unfazed. "Kurushimi is the one that decides everything. That's how it's been from the beginning, right? Ever since whatever tragedy occured he's been controlling you. After your revenge, he forced you into this, didn't he? You never wanted to kill the member of my clan even though he caused you so much pain, but you did it anyway, because Kurushimi wanted you to do it. All of this is correct, isn't it?" The horrified expression on Kenshi's face confirmed his suspicions.

"W-Why do you care?!"

"Because," Sasuke started, painfully straightening his back, the chakra chains behind him jingling, "you're in the same situation I was. Don't ruin yourself and everything you originally intended to fight for Kenshi."

The man frowned and closed his eyes. "It's far too late too 'save' me Uchiha. My purpose now is to help Kurushimi kill you."

"Do it then. I'm restrained. You have a clear shot."

Nothing.

"You can't do it, can you? Just like a minute ago, you can't. You say your purpose is to help kill me, but you won't take the opportunity. Also, what about your vow? You don't want to break it. That's part of the reason why you won't kill me now."

Kenshi was speechless. No one had ever read him like that, ever. "This is pointless. I have nothing left outside of here. I'm a criminal and that's all I'll ever be to anyone outside this cave. I've accepted my fate to live the rest of my life like this. Why don't you accept yours? Ha, you should be happy. You'll get to see your dear family again shortly."

Sasuke was silent, staring at the man unknowingly. How was he possibly supposed to convince Kenshi that this didn't have to be it for him, that there were still other possibilities?

"Answer this Uchiha. What do you think the world's reaction will be if I just claim to be 'changed' or 'saved'? Why would I want to be treated like dirt?"

"I face it all the time, but I pull through because... I always have friends to stand with, even if they're miles away. I atone for my sins, but I know people will not accept it still. I don't care though. As long as-"

"As long as the power of friendship helps me!" Kenshi mocked. He laughed. "Who would've thought the great Sasuke Uchiha could be so poetic? Guess what, I don't have anyone to call friend outside here. Heck, I don't even know if I have a friend at all. That doesn't matter though." He remembered how secretive Kurushimi was and clenched his jaw. The man looked towards the archway that led to the inner hideout.

Sasuke sat soundlessly, staring at the cold rock below him. It was hopeless. He might as well just give up. Even Naruto wouldn't be able to get through to this man.

* * *

Kurushimi stared aimlessly into the fountain of light blue liquid. His gaze shifted to the black section, a thin line set on his lips. "_Hm, should I go ahead and use it on Sasuke? No, I'll wait. I need more time. Well, I could- No, I'll taunt him first. It's always fun to toy with an enemy that can't fight back," _Kurushimi thought with a smirk. _"I'll even let Kenshi in on it as well." _He began to laugh, but was cut short when a sharp pain pierced his eyes. The man gripped the fountain's edge tightly with one hand, covering his strange orbs with the other. He fell to his knees, hissing in agony. His vision was distorted and his head throbbed unbearably. A scream ripped free from his throat.

_He stumbled backwards and held his hands out protectively in front of himself. "Please, don't kill me! I swear, I didn't know!"_

_"Why do you have them then?!" the man screamed back in fury, rapidly approaching the sixteen year old boy._

_He shouted in fear and continued to walk backwards, tears spilling from his eyes. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I never had a choice! Please don't hurt me!"_

_The man stopped and stood still. "He gave them to you though. He experimented on them and turned them into that!"_

_The boy halted, shivering uncontrollably. Anger surged through him. "You already killed him! You killed the rest of them for no reason! You got what you wanted didn't you?!" He finished and gazed at his friend struggling to get up in the corner._

_The man laughed and raised his bloody sword, slowly stalking towards the boy again. "I killed him, yes. I also murdered the rest in front of him to make that man suffer before I killed him. Now boy, it's your turn. What I really want is those eyes! Now prepare to join the rest of them!"_

_He stumbled backwards once more and watched in horror as the man slashed with his sword. "NO!" He fell to the ground, barely dodging the strike. The boy heard glass shatter and opened his eyes, only to see liquid falling from the counter above. He didn't move as it hit his eyes. All he saw before pain surged through his head was light blue._

Kurushimi panted harshly as his distorted vision returned to normal, his body shaking relentlessly. "I need... more... more power..." He pushed himself up and cupped his hands, placing them into the light blue liquid. He quickly lifted them and rubbed it over his eyes. He hissed at the stinging sensation, holding onto the fountain. "I'll make you beg for death... Sasuke Uchiha..."

* * *

Sakura peered around the corner once more, studying the two men guarding the entrance. _"How do I get past them? I don't want to alert the whole place." _She looked at the large rock wall where the entrance sat, noticing many holes here and there. The pink-haired kunoichi saw one in particular, a large one, that appeared to lead directly inside the main hideout. There was still the two men to take care of though. _"I need a distraction. This area in front of them is too open. I can't get close enough." _Sakura's fingertips brushed the edge of Sasuke's cloak. _"Or maybe... I'll keep masking my chakra and if I'm fast enough I might be able to get close. This cloak is dark enough to conceal me from view. The only flaw is my stupid hair..." _Her emerald orbs once again landed on the pair of guards. They were busy chatting and chuckling at what the other said.

Sakura took a deep breath and surveyed the area once more. There were a few scattered rises in the ground, big enough to hide behind if needed, but far apart. Sakura clutched her necklace and took another deep breath, preparing to push off and make her first move. "I can't waver. If the worst happens, then I'll just go loud and take them out," she whispered to herself.

With this, the kunoichi pushed off and hit the hard rock of the cave floor, breaking out into a run the moment she felt her foot touch the earth. Sakura never looked at the guards while she ran, only focusing on the rise in the ground that lay in front of her. The woman finally skidded to a halt and crouched down behind the object. She strained her ears to hear the men's voices, staying as still as possible.

"Hey, I thought I just saw something," one said. "It looked... pink."

The other man laughed. "I didn't see anything. You're delusional."

Sakura cursed silently. Oh how much she hated her hair at times like this. She peeked around the rock quickly and sighed in relief. It was logical that Kurushimi would make big brutes like them guard the entrance to the main hideout. No doubt the pair had an extremely high chance of winning in a battle against most people, but Sakura perceived that they were lacking in intelligence. She could definitely use that fact to her advantage. Her emerald orbs shifted to the closest rise, about fifty feet away. She would get there in no time at all, but it was more likely that the enemy would see or hear her this time. _"I can't stop here. I'm not going to let Sasuke do this." _She crept to the edge of the rock and sped off a moment later. As Sakura expected, she reached the next rise in only a few seconds. Small rocks bounced past her feet when she stopped, causing the woman to hold her breath, hoping the men hadn't caught the sound.

"I swear I just heard something," the same brute who had seen a flash of her pink hair said.

The other male shoved him back. "No outsider has ever come in here! I told you, you're just delusional! Now quit being such a baby!"

"Hmph!" he grunted, turning so that his back faced his partner.

He rolled his eyes and sighed in annoyance.

Sakura looked up the wall and eyed the large hole she had noticed earlier. _"I can't move further without them spotting me. They're right in front of the main entrance, under that section of the wall. Hm..." _Sakura shifted her attention to the guards and gasped quietly. The one that knew someone was near still had his back turned. The other was leaning down, poking at some pebbles and small rocks. _"Now is my chance! I need a distraction!" _The kunoichi searched around for something useful and her eyes landed on a single rock next to her feet. _"Perfect." _Sakura grabbed the object and took aim, checking that the closest one was still occupied with the pebbles. The woman threw the rock with great force and watched carefully as it sailed through the air, eventually hitting the man with his back turned.

The brute yelped and hit the ground, causing his partner to jump up and stare with wonder at the male's body. The injured man rubbed the back of his head and scrambled to his feet, pointing an accusing finger. "Why did you do that?!"

"Do what?!"

"You hit me with one of those rocks!"

"Did not, stupid!"

"Liar!" He lunged forward and punched his partner and the brawl began.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Childish idiots," she muttered under her breath. The Haruno casually made her way to the wall and jumped multiple times, reaching the large hole in less than ten seconds. She poked her head out and gazed down at the guards, still fighting. They hadn't noticed a thing. "Now is where it's important that I'm not seen at all."

* * *

"Rasengan!" Naruto shouted, the blue ball in his hand meeting the chunk of rock. A giant hole blasted into place and he jumped through, his comrades right on his tail. "Okay, we're in, easy as cake. Now what?"

"Well-" Kakashi started, being interrupted a moment later.

"We are not gonna split up again!" Naruto yelled. "Every time we do that bad things happen!"

Kakashi scratched his head. "All right. Kiba, can you get any trace of Sasuke or Sakura?"

The Inuzuka and his dog sniffed the air multiple times, slowly walking around the area. All was silent as the two tried to track their friends. Suddenly, Akamaru began to bark and pointed ahead with his nose. Kiba ran over to his partner and sniffed. "Yep, we got both of them! C'mon!"

The group rushed forward, following the Inuzuka and his dog, all intent on retrieving their friends and defeating any enemy in their path.

* * *

Kenshi sat on the cold rock, staring unconsciously at the cold ground underneath him. He didn't know how long he'd been "guarding" Sasuke or when their argument ended, but ever since then his mind had been stuck on past memories. The happy ones made him smile every now and then, and the many horrible ones forced a deep frown to grow on his features.

Sasuke had given up on finding a comfortable position quite a while ago, dealing with the stiffness in his legs especially. He thought his wounds had finally stopped bleeding, judging by the fact that he no longer felt anything trickling down his bloodstained skin. His shirt and pants had dried patches of dark red all over them, ruining the entire outfit. He smirked, remembering the hours of shopping with Sakura for men's clothes. She'd have a fit if she saw him now with his current appearance, no doubt about it. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He wanted so much to believe that she and Naruto had taken the others and escaped, but that woman could be as stubborn as the Uchiha himself sometimes and Naruto almost never listened to him.

Distant footsteps brought both men out of their thoughts and back to reality as they whirled their heads around to gaze at Kurushimi. Sasuke immediately narrowed his eyes in fury, Kenshi standing up.

Kurushimi chuckled, continuing his trek towards the pair. "Glad to see me again Sasuke?" he taunted. "While I was gone, I paid a visit to your intimate friend."

Sasuke gritted his teeth, pulling at the chains restraining him. "You-!"

"Relax, relax. I was only joking."

The Uchiha settled down, his blood boiling and fists clenched.

"It's quite amusing, how gullible you are when it comes to her," the dark-haired man jeered.

Sasuke bit down on his lower lip, holding back a cold retort.

The man stopped a few feet away from the Uchiha and the swordsman. He looked up at the roof of the cave and lifted a hand, staring with an indifferent expression at a certain spot. Kenshi and Sasuke watched as Kurushimi's chakra became visible and busted a large hole through the ceiling, moonlight illuminating the place in which the three men were located.

"Hm, it seems like it will rain soon," Kurushimi said in a casual tone. He tilted his head to the side, peering at Sasuke over his shoulder. "Do you know the meaning of my name?"

Both Sasuke and Kenshi eyed the man with strange eyes curiously, silent and cautious.

"It can be defined as many words, mainly suffering... pain... misfortune... hardship... any of those would work."

The Uchiha narrowed his mismatched orbs, wondering where the conversation was heading.

"A coincidence, don't you think? It's almost like my parents knew what tragedy my life would end up being... I received the explanation that I was given this name because they wanted it to be a reminder never to let hard times bring me down... I'm not exactly sure that I've lived up to that after all that's happened, but..." He trailed off, thinking of the incident earlier that day. The man hated that memory more than anything else.

Sasuke could sense the tension in the air increasing, almost exactly like the moment before he had been pummeled with chakra shards. The last Uchiha braced himself for the worst, just in case. To his surprise, Kurushimi slowly twisted around to fully face him and stepped next to Kenshi, raising his arm once more. "There won't be any surprise attacks this time Sasuke. I'm going to look you in the eye when I do it this time."

Sasuke's heart began to thunder against his chest. Was this it? Was this where everything was going to end? The Uchiha couldn't go out like this, he refused to accept it. There was something inside of him telling him to fight back, that now was not the time to reunite with his deceased family. His fingertips brushed against the chains of chakra restraining him, reminding the male of his current state. He was already injured, captured with nearly no hope of breaking free. How could he possibly fight back?

Kurushimi chuckled. "This is for the people you've killed or hurt."

Sasuke shouted in pain as the large shard pierced his skin, reopening the wound on his shoulder. _"I... can't..."_

"Believe me, I won't murder you now. There's much more we need to go over." With this, he laughed again as multiple shards sailed through the air and into Sasuke's body. "No vital spots hit. Having one of the most powerful shinobi in the world here, at my mercy, completely vulnerable, really is quite a sight to see. Sometimes I can't believe it's reality but then my eyes land on you, the great Sasuke Uchiha, defenseless."

The last of his clan struggled to breathe while fury surged through him. To have been beaten like this, it was totally foreign to him. _"If I just let this happen, I'm weak. I can't let them win. I will not be defeated here, not like this!" _Another shard whizzed through the air, stopping right before it touched his neck. It rose, forcing him to look up at the enemy, the sharp object barely scraping his throat, a drop of blood trickling down his skin.

A smirk grew on Kurushimi's lips. "Now, shall we reminisce over some of your memories? Better yet, let's test if I can change them into nightmares."

_"Not like this... Not like this!" _Sasuke watched as Kurushimi's eyes glowed lightly. He growled and tightly gripped the chains around his wrists. _"I have to somehow fight back!" _The Uchiha venomously shifted his head to get a clear view of Kurushimi's face. "No!" he shouted as the man's eyes glowed brighter.

It was almost as if time itself had stopped. Sasuke, Kenshi, and Kurushimi all stood stock still, their eyes wide open and their jaws hanging to the floor. They stared forward blankly, their minds completely stolen from reality.

* * *

Sasuke's eyes shot open and he pushed himself up to a sitting position. He looked around in all directions, utterly confused. "Where am I?" he wondered aloud. The last Uchiha saw almost nothing but trees surrounding him. Rain steadily fell upon the forest and Sasuke held out his hand, the droplets falling right through it. "What is this? I thought I was just in the hideout." He stood up and studied the environment once more, trying to recall any memory of the place. _"I actually do feel like I've been here before." _It was then that he noticed there were no wounds covering his body, his clothes clean and no bloodstained skin.

"Where the heck did you run off to?! We have to head back! It's gonna get dark soon!"

Sasuke twisted his body around just in time to see a young boy rushing through the woodsy area right past him. "Hey!" he called, but the boy seemed not to have heard him. The Uchiha hurriedly followed the kid, hoping to receive some answers. Maybe the rain had been loud enough to drown out his voice or he hadn't seen him. Sasuke looked down at his body while he continued to pursue the boy, noticing that the rain still went directly through him. _"What the heck is happening right now?_ he wondered. Sasuke sped up until he was almost directly beside the boy, attempting to get a good look at his face. _"This kid is pretty fast, especially for someone his age."_

Suddenly, the young male hopped off the ground and onto a tree branch. Sasuke planted his toe into the ground and switched directions so that he too was leaping into the treetops.

"Come on out! I'm serious!" the boy yelled loudly, picking up the pace. The kid stopped a moment later with a hand placed on the trunk he was perched on.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he tried to move so that he would not hit the boy when he landed. It was too late and the Uchiha braced himself for impact, but nothing came. He opened his mismatched eyes and his feet hit a long branch in front of the one the boy crouched on. Sasuke turned around in bewilderment to notice the kid unfazed with a hand under his chin. There was no way he could have missed him. _"Did I go straight through him like the rain goes through me?" _The Uchiha tested this theory by sticking a hand out as if to touch the kid's shoulder. He was proven correct as his hand felt nothing but air as it went through his body.

The boy stuck his head out from the shadows the branches and leaves cast, but not to where the rain could easily reach him.

Sasuke stiffened when he got a decent view of the kid's face. He had large brown eyes and hair the color of his best friend's, Naruto Uzumaki. Something seemed very familiar about him but it also felt like another something was missing. _"Is that-?"_

Suddenly, the young boy jumped off of the branch and to the ground, taking off with lightning speed. Sasuke was shaken out of his thoughts and he hurried to catch up. The Uchiha struggled to follow the fast turns and random twists that he took. Finally, he stopped running and jogged to a large hole in the ground beneath a tree, crouching at the entrance.

"Are you in here?" he asked, peering into the opening. A muffled response came back. The boy carefully crouched and shuffled into the hole, heading towards the voice.

Sasuke reluctantly got onto his hands and knees, crawling into the darker area behind the boy. He stopped directly behind the kid and peered around him to see another boy about the same age as the one he'd been following hugging his knees and resting his head atop them.

The male Sasuke had pursued sighed heavily. "You can't keep doing this. People are gonna start worrying."

The other boy raised his head, revealing tear stained cheeks. "Yeah right. I don't care anymore. I can't go back."

"What are you talking about? Your mom and dad don't want you to run away. I don't want you to either. You're my best friend."

"No, I can't keep listening to what they say about my dad!" he yelled in response, more tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Who cares what they say about him?! I sure as heck don't! Have they actually met him? Huh?"

The crying male hesitantly shook his head and his frown lessened a fraction. "No."

"Exactly! Now come on before anyone notices we're missing!" The boy offered his hand and the other took it.

Sasuke hopped out of the hole and watched as the two boys climbed through the opening. His eyes widened almost to the point where it hurt when the second kid stepped away from the shadows. Jet black messy hair with bangs on his right side and tired charcoal black eyes. His friend twisted around and Sasuke knew that his suspicions were correct as he put the pieces together.

The blond boy laughed. "I'll race you there Kurushimi!"

Kurushimi grinned and wiped his eyes. "What kind of fun will that be? Kenshi, you're the fastest kid in the village!"

He crossed his arms and gave a half smirk half smile. "Fine, we don't have to race since you're a chicken."

The two friends chuckled and began to walk away from Sasuke, who was frozen in place. The realization hit him like a slap to the face. _"These are their memories..."_

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm going to make the next chapter longer than this one but this seemed like a good place to end it. Lots of things are about to be explained. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the support! Please review!


	30. Origins

**Author's Note: **My reasons for not updating for a while have already been posted in my other ongoing multichapter story, but in case some of you don't follow or read it, I was dealing with many personal issues during that time. I planned on finishing this and updating last week but I became sick and am just now really getting rid of it. Thanks to you for being patient and for your support! Please enjoy!

* * *

Sasuke followed the young Kurushimi and Kenshi a short distance from behind, wondering why in the world he was seeing his enemies like this. _"What the heck happened? One second I was about to be tortured in the hideout and the next I'm in the middle of a forest with my enemies in their early teenage years. This appears to be their memories but I'm not absolutely sure at the moment. How did this even happen anyway?" _Sasuke's brow creased as he attempted to recall the events before he found himself in an entirely different setting. He remembered looking into Kurushimi's strange eyes and shouting "No", determined not to be toyed with anymore. Then he saw both of his enemies' faces contort into expressions of shock and horror but everything after that was a blank. Now, the Uchiha was here, wherever here was. He had to admit, the place was somewhat familiar to him though. But where in the world had he seen it? When? The Uchiha had so many unanswered questions and it was beginning to irritate him. _"The only choice I really have is to follow these two and see what happens," _he concluded.

Sasuke shifted his gaze upward and matched the boys' traveling pace. The last thing he remembered before waking up in this place was the image of Kenshi and Kurushimi's horrified faces, mainly Kurushimi's. _"He said he was going to alter my memories or at least test an ability of the sort. I can recall a place resembling this one in my memory, but definitely not them as kids. They're older than me, so it doesn't make sense. It almost seemed like..." _Sasuke hesitated for a moment. _"... like it backfired..."_

"Hurry up Kurushimi! We're almost there and I'm getting hungry!" Kenshi said, speeding up. The two boys ran through the brush and into an open area, Sasuke right on their heels.

The Uchiha recognized this environment even more than the others they had raced through, but where from? As they continued to run through the clearing, a small building started to become visible through the rain. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the sight and saw that the small building was a cabin.

Suddenly, the boys stopped in their tracks, also noticing the cabin. "Man, I left my bag in there from earlier. It kept annoying me," Kenshi groaned.

"What's with you and that old cabin?" Kurushimi asked as his friend ran towards the door to the place.

Kenshi smirked and peered over his shoulder. "I'm using it as my evil lair," he joked, throwing the door open and retrieving his bag.

Sasuke stiffened at the realization. That was where he knew this place from. The cabin was where he had first met his enemies, Kurushimi and Kenshi. It was where his first battle with the two had taken place, where it all began. He didn't have much time to ponder as Kenshi was back in a matter of seconds and they were off once more.

* * *

Sakura carefully stalked through the cold caves, clinging to the damp walls and hardly daring to breathe at every corner. So far, the kunoichi had not encountered anyone in the hideout besides the two brutes just outside. In fact, it was sort of weird to her. With about a thousand men, according to one of the elites Sasuke brutally murdered on the last battlefield, she expected at least a few to be roaming the paths. Now that the Haruno thought about the odd occurrence, she realized that not a single door or door-shaped opening had come into view upon entering the hideout. _"Everything concerning Kurushimi and/or Kenshi is odd," _Sakura thought, pausing at yet another corner. _"I wonder how close I am to Sasuke. I can't detect any chakra signatures in here. I hope he's okay." _She inwardly sighed. _"Why does he have to be so stubborn?"_

Sakura paused her thinking for a few moments, listening for any noise or sound coming from around the corner. When she heard only silence besides her breathing, the kunoichi took a short peek and cautiously stepped into the open, walking as quietly as possible down the path. _"It's starting to get brighter," _she noted, squinting at the luminous area peeking out from behind the next turn. _"Looks like I'm finally getting somewhere," _Sakura thought with half a sense of relief, the other half taken up by caution. Her heart rate increased slightly as she reached the other side, pressing her back against the cave wall. She was grateful that Sasuke left his cloak before departing once more. It provided an extra layer of protection from the cold cave temperatures and camouflage for the darker areas. Faint sounds of cheering and shouting met the kunoichi's ears, causing the woman to stiffen. Sakura slowly peered around the corner to see a couple of people's backs at the end of the long pathway. _"They must be a few of Kurushimi's followers," _she thought. The Haruno guessed by the words she could make out that they and a lot of others were observing a match taking place. She did not dare venture any closer to the "arena". Curiosity can wait, Sasuke is in trouble. Luckily for her, there was yet another path just a yard or so away leading around the arena. Unfortunately, Sakura had to continue to tread the waters very cautiously considering she didn't know her way around the place. The worst part of it all? Sasuke's whereabouts were a complete mystery. All Sakura knew was that he was somewhere in the hideout and that's all it took to keep the determined kunoichi going.

* * *

"Kenshi, you've been staring at that photo for ten minutes straight," a young Kurushimi teased, hopping onto his bunk.

The teen swordsman quickly clutched the photo closer to his chest, turning his head away to hide the red coloring settling in his cheeks. At the desk, he stiffened after his friend's accusation. "What of it?!"

"You stare at her in real life, at photos... It's obvious you have a crush on her," Kurushimi stated with a smirk.

Sasuke couldn't stop staring at Kurushimi's completely normal eyes. There were no signs of the purple and blue layers along with his already charcoal black orbs. _"How did he obtain whatever those eyes are?" _Sasuke wondered. For now though, his only choice was to watch the events taking place. After all, he had no idea how to get back or get out of the situation.

"Maybe I do," Kenshi croaked out defensively. "Akemi doesn't feel the same though, so it doesn't matter."

"Pft, you don't know that. I think she's as head over heels for you as you are for her," Kurushimi responded, rolling onto his side. "You should invite Akemi over some time or ask her on a date."

The blond immediately became a darker shade of red and laughed nervously. "I uh, I dunno. Do you think it'll be okay with your parents?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" came the dark-haired male's muffled voice.

A frown formed on Kenshi's unscarred face as he shrugged. "Akemi asks about my parents sometimes... She wants to meet them and hang out with me..."

Kurushimi rolled back over, facing his friend's back. "You never told her?"

"No... I don't like to talk about them much. You know that Kurushimi."

Silence.

Sasuke listened intently to his young enemies' conversation, his interest sparked by the boy's claim. The Uchiha leaned against the wall, his arms crossed and eyes gazing at the swordsman's back.

Kenshi clenched his fists and slammed them on top of the desk, his teeth gritted in anger. "They didn't have to die, no, be murdered! In a senseless war no less!"

Kurushimi didn't know how to respond to the outburst. His lips separated but no sound escaped them. The boy just laid there, watching his friend's back.

Kenshi sighed and let his shoulders relax, the tension in his body slackening greatly. "Sorry... I just miss them. Anyway, I haven't told you and your parents thank you enough for taking me in. I don't know where I would be if you guys didn't."

"Don't worry about it. Anything for a friend," Kurushimi replied with a troubled frown. He shifted positions so that he was lying on his back, arms crossed behind his head.

"All of you have become family to me," Kenshi said, turning around and flashing a large smile.

Once again, Kurushimi was at a loss for words. Instead of saying anything, he returned the male's smile with a grin of his own.

Suddenly, the scene changed, forcing Sasuke to jump away from his position leaning against the disappearing wall. The Uchiha looked around as another environment began to form. The dark-haired male stood in place for a moment until he could make out the setting. Around him, what seemed to be a ninja academy finished shifting into place. Sasuke's mismatched eyes landed on the familiar face of teenage Kenshi, slightly older than before, but not much. He was sitting on the steps leading to the entrance, a beautiful young girl right next to him. The other academy students of varied ages were settled in groups throughout the area, but Sasuke could not pick out anyone that looked like Kurushimi. He returned his attention back to Kenshi and the girl, studying her appearance. She was a long-haired brunette with blue eyes and kind features, a slim but fit body for a young kunoichi.

"So, uh," Kenshi began nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, "Akemi, would you like to hang out some time tomorrow? Or just whenever you like! You pick the day!" the blond boy finished, his entire face becoming the color of an apple.

The girl named Akemi giggled and gently took one of Kenshi's shaking hands, causing the boy to turn an even darker shade of red, hardly daring to breathe.

"Sure, tomorrow works," she answered simply with a soft voice, giving his hand a light squeeze.

Kenshi heaved a big sigh of relief and managed a small smile, too afraid to fully entwine their hands.

"I finally get to meet your parents," she stated excitedly, returning the smile.

All the life faded from Kenshi's body in an instant. The hand she held became limp and his grin morphed into a frown. Before she could express her concern, Kenshi interrupted, saying, "Yeah, about that, there's something I haven't told you yet. I've been too scared of what you'll think or say..."

Akemi cupped his cheek, forcing him to turn her way. "Kenshi, you kn-"

"Look everyone! This loser thinks he can fight me!" shouted a husky masculine voice.

Kenshi, Akemi, and Sasuke simultaneously peered in the direction of the interruption. The swordsman furrowed his brow while standing up slowly, his gaze on the forming circle of classmates around the boy who had shouted. "Come on," he told Akemi, jogging towards the cluster of people. She quickly followed her friend, curiosity lining both their features. Sasuke reached the circle of ninjas just after Kenshi and Akemi did. He couldn't see even though he was taller than most of the shinobi because there were so many pushing and shoving to gain a decent view. Sighing, the Uchiha literally walked through everyone in his way, making it to the center in no time. Before he could observe the situation, a fist came flying towards him. Sasuke jumped out of the way and immediately cursed himself afterwards. It was instinct to dodge even if it went straight through him, which it would have. The Uchiha whirled around and his gaze landed on a bulky young male, around the same age as Kenshi. The male's fist connected with another boy's cheek, sending him flying across the clearing.

"Get up Kurushimi! Keep proving me right about how worthless your dad is!" the brute of a boy taunted, cracking his knuckles. "We all know it, so why do you bother defending him?"

Kurushimi got to his hands and knees, wiping blood off of his busted lip. He angrily clenched his fists and stood up, rushing forward a moment later. "Shut up! You don't know anything about my dad!" Kurushimi's fist fired towards the boy, who caught it with ease.

"He's a joke and so are you," the bulky male responded, pulling Kurushimi closer only to punch him in the stomach. He would have collapsed to the ground if not for the kid gripping his arm. The brute jerked Kurushimi towards him once more, this time punching him in the nose. Kurushimi fell to the dirt, barely moving on the ground. His harsh pants filled the area, the crowd mumbling in discussion or laughing with amusement. The dark-haired male twisted his head to the side so he could capture more air, revealing a bloody nose along with a blackening eye.

Sasuke watched further as the boy grabbed a handful of his enemy's black hair, forcing him to look at him.

"Sh-Shut your mouth Takeshi," Kurushimi's croaked out, trying to crawl away from the male's grip with no luck.

"Ha!" the boy named Takeshi snorted. "You know, I really do feel sorry for you. Having an old man like him must be hard. He's crazy and stupid. Thinking he's an actual scientist, give me a break. Everything he's created has been a failure, and the greatest one of all is you." Before Kurushimi could respond, Takeshi kicked him multiple times. Many people cringed as Kurushimi grunted each time, his increasing agony clear with the sounds. Then, the brute picked him up and tossed him across the clearing. He laughed again, stalking towards the boy feebly attempting to get up. "Don't worry, I'll put you out of your misery now."

Sasuke took a few steps closer to gain a better view. He saw the bulky male raise his fist and launch it at the defeated Kurushimi. Suddenly, a flash of clothing appeared in the corner of his eyes and the next instant it was directly behind Takeshi, holding his fist.

"Takeshi, stop now," Kenshi warned darkly, effortlessly restraining the boy's hand.

"Stay out of this Kenshi!" he shouted back, pushing the swordsman away with his free hand.

"Fine, if you want it to go down like this," Kenshi replied, taking out his sword and gazing at Akemi who had crouched beside the fallen Kurushimi.

"I could beat you with my bare hands if I wanted to," Takeshi boasted, pulling out a kunai knife. "But I'd rather beat you into a pulp faster so I can take care of your pitiful friend."

"Suit yourself," Kenshi said, rushing forward a moment later. He easily caught Takeshi off guard, making the boy stumble trying to block the sword with his kunai. Kenshi smirked and performed a leg sweep, managing to get the brute off balance for a second time. He cursed aloud at his inability to force the large male to lose his footing completely. Nonetheless, the young swordsman used the move to his advantage. He slashed Takeshi's hand with the edge of his sword, his opponent dropping the kunai instantly while shouting in pain. Kenshi followed up with a vicious roundhouse kick that nailed Takeshi on the side of his head. The boy crumpled to the ground, barely conscious, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. "If you try something like this again, I won't hold back," Kenshi threatened while wiping the fresh blood off the edge of his sword. The crowd of people jeered and laughed at Takeshi's fallen form, some even clapping for Kenshi. The swordsman sheathed his katana and ran to Akemi and Kurushimi, who had managed to sit up with the assistance of the female.

Sasuke was thoroughly impressed with the young Kenshi's skills. He was very agile and fast even back then it seemed, but the Uchiha could keep up with his movements without using his clan's dojutsu. _"These events all occurred prior to the tragedy that, changed, them." _Sasuke stood next to the three sitting teens, listening in on their conversation and gazing at the trio whenever something interesting came up.

Akemi gave the battered boy a towel to hold against his bloody lip whilst she studied his swelling eye. "I have some training in medical ninjutsu and such so I should be able to take care of this."

"Thank you Akemi," Kurushimi said. He turned to the other male with an angry expression. "Kenshi, why did you-?!"

"You were getting your butt kicked and I couldn't allow you to humiliate yourself further," Kenshi said emotionlessly.

Kurushimi's frown intensified. "I'm not gonna let people like him say those things and do nothing anymore."

"So it helps by getting beaten to the ground?!" Kenshi fired back.

The injured boy said nothing after this, only watching as Akemi tended to his wounds.

"Just try to stay out of trouble okay?" Kenshi said. "Your parents are gonna start prying soon. We've almost run out of excuses to use."

Sasuke looked on as the scene around him changed. When the environment settled, he was gazing straight at slightly older versions of Kenshi and Akemi. They were sitting on a high tree branch with their legs dangling off the edge. The Uchiha leaped upwards until he was close enough to see and hear the pair.

"Kenshi, are you all right? You've been acting... shut off, lately," Akemi asked with concern, her green eyes gleaming.

The swordsman turned to her with a look of indifference. "Honestly, I don't know," was all he said.

Akemi fell silent for a moment, trying to find the right words. "What's bothering you? You're by yourself a lot these days and..."

"And what?" he questioned, a spark of interest in his features.

"And you don't talk to me as much. I'm sorry if it sounds selfish. I just miss you, and this isn't the real you," she explained.

Kenshi sat still with a light blush settling in his cheeks, mouth ajar. "I... Don't be sorry. I'm the one that should be sorry for being so distant. I guess it's mainly Kurushimi that's troubling me. I'm not sure what happened, but it's almost as if we aren't friends anymore. He doesn't hang out with me as much and he's hardly ever in our room. When he is he doesn't talk to me."

"I'm sure it's not your fault," Akemi reassured. "Maybe Kurushimi just needs time alone."

"Ha, he's had plenty of that," Kenshi snorted with disgust. He sighed and cocked his head in her direction with a fake smile set on his lips. "Let's just forget about him right now."

Akemi blushed lightly and grinned, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

For some reason, the conversation between the two shinobi became impossible for Sasuke to hear. He was literally right next to them and saw their lips moving. It continued like this for a while, the pair obviously talking and laughing but with no sound. Irritation steadily coursed through Sasuke's being as time passed, the sudden inability to listen in on their exchanges fueling his anger. For all he knew they could be mentioning important clues or hints as to how events in the future lead up to Kurushimi and Kenshi labeling the Uchiha himself as an enemy. Sasuke leaned closer to the pair, as he thought he heard a word or two. However, this didn't improve the situation, instead only making the faint sounds seem more distant. He raised an eyebrow when Kenshi and Akemi had stopped speaking, judging by how little their lips moved. Confusion began to descend on his mind as the hushed words kept meeting his ears. He still couldn't make out a single word though. Sasuke turned to look over his shoulder and wondered where in the world the source of the sounds was located.

"Kenshi..."

Sasuke returned his head to its original position once he heard Akemi's voice. To his surprise, the pair slowly leaned forward and their lips met. The Uchiha awkwardly watched as they kissed, debating on if he should attempt to find a way out of this, illusion? The situation itself was peculiar. Why was he transported to this world? Why was he able to experience his enemies' memories?

"No!"

The distant shout had been just loud enough for Sasuke to comprehend. He stole a glimpse of the couple prior to rushing in the direction of the distraught call. As he continued to travel towards the sounds, they became increasingly easier to hear with each passing step.

"Please, can't you use someone else?!" pleaded a desperate voice that Sasuke recognized as Kurushimi's.

_"I'm heading towards Kurushimi's home," _Sasuke realized. The closer he came to his destination, the surroundings became more familiar. From the vision or memory he watched earlier, he could remember some elements of the setting around the family's house and as he drew nearer to the abode, the Uchiha could identify certain abnormalities in the environment that suggested it wouldn't be much longer until he arrived. As he had presumed, the house came into his line of sight not half a minute later. Sasuke rushed towards the front door and reached for the knob, but another cry led him to believe that Kurushimi was a bit further away. Retracting his hand, the Uchiha started to move once more. Sasuke went around the corner of the house and the noises became louder. His eyes carefully scanned for the location that they were coming from and an area shielded by a throng of trees caught his attention. He stepped forward a few times and the sounds were indeed coming from that direction. Upon the silent confirmation, Sasuke made it to the secluded place within about ten minutes, shoving past branches and shuffling through bushes until another building came into his line of sight.

"Calm down son, it's over now..." another person said.

Sasuke jogged towards the building and searched for an entrance, finding one on the side of the structure. He entered without hesitation and discovered the teenaged Kurushimi sitting in a chair with cuffs around his wrists. Sasuke moved so that he could get a closer view of the scene and noticed that the boy's hands tightly gripped the chair where they were restrained, his head down and hair covering his eyes.

A man turned to face the young Kurushimi with his hands shaking. "Remember that this will all be worth it. You'll become more powerful and then we can show them, the entire village, that we aren't worthless."

"It hurts Dad!" Kurushimi sobbed, gritting his teeth and convulsing in pain.

"I know, but you have to fight through it son!" Kurushimi's father responded, gripping the boy's shoulder and giving him a reassuring squeeze. The elder man shakily pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and walked back to where he was previously stationed. The man's hair was steadily becoming grey, Sasuke perceived. He was also balding judging by the patches of thinner hair appearing on his head. The Uchiha slowly stepped past Kurushimi and caught sight of the multiple tears falling into his lap, sobs reaching his ears once more.

"I... I want to be able to hang out w-with Kenshi and Akemi again," Kurushimi choked out through a strangled breath.

The man ceased his movements at the counter, his breath hitching and hands gripping the table's edge tightly. While the room was filled with silence except for Kurushimi's recurring sobs, Sasuke took the opportunity to peer at the table Kurushimi's father was standing in front of. There were many containers, beakers, and test tubes, empty and full, scattered about the surface of the wooden table. There were two specific containers that caught his gaze, one full of a light blue liquid that had a sort of glow to it and the other also light blue but with a tinge of orange.

"Kurushimi... everything will be better... I promise," the greying male reassured his son calmly. "Just hang on for now."

Sasuke's curious gaze shifted from the cluttered piece of furniture to Kurushimi once again, watching as the boy settled down and slowly raised his head. The Uchiha's mismatched orbs widened once they caught sight of the younger male's eyes. "That's..."

"Rinnegan," Kurushimi's father said absentmindedly as he began to release his son's restraints. "I've been working so long to figure out how to create it from Sharingan. Of course, I'm not exactly sure of the powers that it'll grant you, but-"

"Sh-Sharingan?" Kurushimi said in disbelief. He paused for a moment to rub his raw wrists after they were free from their confinements. "The dojutsu possessed by an Uchiha?"

His father nodded in confirmation, staring at the teen as if he were scared, paranoid even.

Kurushimi narrowed his now purple eyes. "How did you get them? Y-You didn't-?!" he started, his voicing rising an octave.

"No! No no no I'd never kill anyone," the man immediately defended himself while adjusting his glasses. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and let out a short chuckle. "Not like I could ever fight an Uchiha and win anyway. While I was out on my trip a year ago, I had unintentionally ventured into what was recently a warzone it seemed... The environment was severely marred and there were only a few bodies. I hurriedly checked to see if there were any survivors, but all had been killed unfortunately. When I reached the last body I kneeled beside it and searched for a pulse or heartbeat, but of course there was none at that point. Then, as I was just about to depart from the scene and report it to the nearest village, I caught sight of the crest on the victim's back. He was an Uchiha. I figured I couldn't let the rare opportunity pass, so I took his eyes and stored them in a safe place. Since then I've been conducting experiments, careful not to damage them."

Kurushimi relaxed slightly, the tension in his shoulders having decreased. He averted his tired gaze to the side and asked, "Did you ever determine the cause for the battle?"

"After the nearest village investigated the scene and took into account other discoveries, they reached the conclusion that the Uchiha had a conflict with the local 'top gang' of the town. He apparently traveled alone and when things reached their breaking point a viscous fight broke out between him and some of the head members. The Uchiha killed all four of them and died there, too. My guess is that he and the last member standing traded death blows and that's how the whole incident came to its end," he explained in detail. "I assume the Uchiha might have been a rogue."

Kurushimi asked no further questions after the man gave his account of what he witnessed. He only remained seated, the longing to be with his friends clear in his facial expression.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow as the scene shifted multiple times, displaying images of things such as Kenshi and Akemi and Kurushimi supposedly growing his hair out to hide his currently purple eyes. Sasuke found the occurrence odd because since he'd been stuck in his enemies' memories for some unknown reason, there had been no significant time skips such as the one happening at that moment, or at least he perceived that was what was going on. As the Uchiha studied the continuously morphing environment he picked up on some of the events ensuing during the time lapse. For one, he perceived Akemi and Kenshi were to the point in their relationship where they could be called a couple. It also seemed as if Kurushimi stayed in solitude most of the time or in the lab where his father's experiments were. Judging by one of the images, he veered away from Kenshi even while his friend was at their home. He grew his dark hair out to the point where his eyes were completely shielded from anyone's view. Sasuke was also aware of the massive feeling of loneliness spreading throughout the air. Finally, the shifts came to a halt and the Uchiha stood staring at an approximately sixteen-year-old Kurushimi, who sat by himself in front of his house, shaded eyes focused on the dirt below.

"You really should get a haircut honey," a woman with black hair much like his suggested after opening the door.

Kurushimi jumped at the sudden interruption, as it appeared he'd been deep in thought. "Oh, uh, I like how it is now Mom," he replied nervously after recovering.

"I think it looks so unkempt with it in your eyes like that," she said, kneeling beside her son and attempting to move the hair away from his purple orbs.

Kurushimi was quick to grab her hand and lean away from the startled woman. "It doesn't bother me, honestly. Please don't make me get it cut!"

The slender dark-haired woman removed her hand and stood up with a frown plastered to her lips. "Well, okay. Can I talk to you at least?"

Hesitantly, the boy nodded, still keeping his abnormal eyes hidden from view. Kurushimi's shoulders tensed as his mother gently set her hand on top of his.

"I know I'm pretty late to do this," the woman began, "but I want to ask if you and Kenshi are all right. You've been separating yourself from him for a while. Did something happen between you two?"

"I... He..." Kurushimi stammered, his nerves visibly shaken by the inquiry. "I just... I want to give him time with Akemi. I don't wanna bother them. They're together now right? Because I left him alone?" he finished under his breath. The last question was meant more for himself than his mother.

"Yes, Kenshi and Akemi are dating, and they're very cute together," the beautiful woman responded, appearing not to have heard the last part. "I've been worried about your father. He's so on edge these days. Do you know why? What is it you two do together all the time?"

Kurushimi's breathing hitched, the hand his mother wasn't touching clenching the fabric of his pants tightly as if his life depended on it. "D-Dad, he, uh... he's just stressed about work. H-He takes me along with him a lot. That's where we go, on business trips," he lied.

"Oh... well... Tell him I love him, since he's hardly ever here anymore," the dark-haired lady said with a crestfallen smile. She left her son a minute later. Sasuke caught a glimpse of a single tear rolling down her cheek as the door to their house closed behind the woman. For the next few minutes, all was quiet except for the recurring chirping of birds. Kurushimi resumed his position of mindlessly looking at the dirt he currently resided on.

Sasuke grew impatient as time went on without anything happening, his mind flicking back to thoughts of Sakura. _"Please be safe," _he begged silently, anxiety beginning to course through his mind.

"Kurushimi!"

Both Sasuke and the boy being called upon turned towards the sound of the interruption. It was Kurushimi's father.

The man jogged towards his son, the expression on his face one of a mad man, Sasuke thought.

Kurushimi had no time to speak as the older male stopped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders, tugging him to his feet. "It's time son! Today is the day!"

"W-What?!"

"We're going to test your abilities!" Kurushimi's father shouted gleefully, releasing his grip on the boy's shoulders and pushing the pair of glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Hurry! Hurry! The faster we go the quicker we can get results!" he exclaimed, rushing off towards the lab.

Sasuke noticed the look of sheer terror resting on the boy's face, the widened purple orbs peeking out through his jet black hair. The teen appeared ghostly as he slowly turned and walked in the direction his father disappeared in, dread radiating off of his stocky form. The Uchiha followed with an indifferent expression resting on his handsome face, although he wouldn't deny that all of this intrigued him.

"What do I have to do?" Kurushimi asked once he entered the laboratory, the floor once again claiming his attention.

"Have you tried to study anyone?!" the older man questioned, quite giddy as shown by him bouncing on his heels.

"S-Study someone?"

"Yes! Look at their chakra network!" he exclaimed. "Have you?"

"No," Kurushimi muttered truthfully, his body stiff as a board.

"Rinnegan should let you have the ability to see anybody's chakra network! Try it right now!" the man ordered, skipping directly to the point.

Kurushimi bit down on his lower lip and turned to face the maniac of a person, or at least that's how Sasuke viewed him at the moment. The troubled teen hesitantly lifted his head and pushed back some of his messy hair with a shaky hand. For a second he narrowed his purple eyes and concentrated on the task the elder man gave him, fists clenched.

"Well?!" the impatient old man inquired after about half a minute had passed, body shivering with anticipation.

Kurushimi strained the Rinnegan further, hoping to obtain results. Suddenly, he screamed in pain and jerked backwards with a hand reaching out in an effort to grab hold of a nearby chair. His fingertips barely brushed the arm of it when he collapsed to the cold hard floor, curling into a ball and trembling upon impact. Kurushimi began to sob and slapped both hands over the purple Rinnegans, incoherently choking out something Sasuke assumed to be "Mother" judging by the syllable he could partially comprehend.

"What's wrong?!" the greying male shouted desperately as he ran to his son's fallen and convulsing body. "Kurushimi speak to me!"

"Make it stop! Make it stop please!" he yelled in agony, gripping the dark strands atop his head and attempting to pull them out.

The scene made a chilling shiver travel down Sasuke's spine. Pure torture, that's what it looked like Kurushimi was experiencing while rolling around and crying on the floor, his father trying to calm the boy down to no avail. All the Uchiha could ponder was why did the, experiment, go wrong? _"How exactly did he make the Sharingan transform into Rinnegan?" _he silently asked, forehead wrinkled. Sasuke knew exactly how it was supposed to occur, but how in the world could Kurushimi's father accomplish that? _"Could he have somehow made an imperfect one perhaps? I'm not sure how that would play out or even how he could create Rinnegan by the means of it being a sort of copy, but... what other explanation is there?" _Kurushimi's father hardly looked like a formidable foe, in fact he barely appeared as being classified in the ninja category, so how in the world could he retrieve the chakra of descendants of the Sage, or heck, from the Sage himself?! Sasuke pondered further on the subject and realized that he and Naruto were almost positively born at this period in time, meaning they were Ashura and Indra's incarnations. Kurushimi and Kenshi were in their late twenties in real time, so if they were sixteen or so during this time period, that meant himself and Naruto had to be about five or six. Sasuke sure as heck would've remembered some old creep coming to steal his chakra if he were six. It seemed highly unlikely for such an occurrence, plus how would anyone have discovered that fact while they were so young? _"He must've somehow formed artificial Rinnegan," _Sasuke concluded.

"Kurushimi!"

"Please! Please! Please!"

To Sasuke's irritation, the memory morphed into a different one yet again. This time it was Kurushimi's father alone in the lab sitting at a cluttered desk with a pen in hand. His gaze focused on an old notebook, obviously used frequently, while a small lamp illuminated a portion of the desktop. Tapping the pen against the surface, he ran a hand through his greying hair and mumbled unintelligible words to himself. He began to bite his fingernails and tap his foot along with the pen, the noises growing slightly louder. Sasuke moved forward and leaned over the man's back in order to read what was written in the notebook. _"They're Kurushimi's Rinnegan test results."_

"All failed... All failed..." Kurushimi's father whispered in utter disbelief. "What went wrong? What went wrong? I thought I could create a substitute that would last. Why? Why? Why?!" His erratic breathing hitched, as if he remembered something crucial. The scientist's wild gaze quickly shifted to the two containers filled with the glowing light blue liquid, one with a slight tint of orange, Sasuke had noticed in an earlier flashback. "No," he said in an effort to control himself. "They haven't been tested so who knows what the repercussions could include? I can't take that risk. It's not worth damaging the Rinnegan or... Kurushimi..." The man abruptly jumped out of his seat and growled with frustration prior to slamming both hands onto the desktop and clearing the sleek surface of most of its contents.

"I will prove to everyone I'm not worthless!" he screamed with anguish.

Before Sasuke could review the peculiar memory, the lab morphed into a dirt pathway with rows of trees on either side. The Uchiha huffed in annoyance and cocked his head to the side, his eyes landing on Kenshi and Akemi. The couple walked at a leisurely pace down the road, hand-in-hand with huge smiles, giggling every now and then. Sasuke took a step forward only to halt when he heard a noise behind him. He pivoted on his heel instinctively to face the intruder. It seemed like Kenshi and Akemi caught the sound as well, judging by the noticeable lack of footsteps.

"Oh, hello!" a man with long blond hair greeted, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Um, hi," Kenshi responded awkwardly, pulling Akemi closer.

"I'm extremely sorry to disturb you, but I'm searching for someone and I was wondering if you could pass along any information of this person's whereabouts."

The pair shared a suspicious glance, leading Kenshi to protectively tug her behind his form. "Uh, yeah. We'll see if we know this person."

"Great! Thank you for your time!" the elder male shouted a little too gleefully in Sasuke's opinion.

The Uchiha scanned over the new person and raised his eyebrows, noticing something that made his senses immediately put him on alert. _"His eyes are black like mine..." _He also noted that the male wore quite a large robe, one big enough to conceal his entire being if he wished to pull the hood over his head.

"Okay, here we go!" he said with a grin, retrieving a photo from a hidden pocket inside the dark and spacious robe.

Both Kenshi and Akemi gasped at the sight.

"Oh, so you do know him?" the odd male questioned. Sasuke could've sworn the smile plastered to his lips twitched into a devilish smirk for a single fleeting moment.

"Can I ask why do you need to find him?" Kenshi replied with an inquiry of his own.

"Of course you can!" he said without hesitation. Reaching into the folds of his robe once more, the blond male displayed a card with his identification. "I'm an associate of his. I was asked by the head of our department to personally deliver a business letter to him."

Sasuke narrowed his mismatched orbs and maneuvered around the man to peer at the identification card. After inspecting the photo and general information, it certainly gave the impression everything was correct, but Sasuke still had a gut feeling that something was out of the ordinary.

Kenshi relaxed a bit after reading the information. "Yeah, we know him. He's my friend's dad. I'm living with him right now so I can take you there."

Sasuke's jaw clenched. He hadn't been given the opportunity to get a glimpse of the first photo. _"He's looking for Kurushimi's father?" _

"Ah, thank you so much! I truly appreciate your assistance!"

For nearly half an hour the three walked on with Sasuke close by. Along the way, the strange man asked many questions. They weren't necessarily peculiar given the situation, just things like "Are you a couple?" or "How long have you lived with your friend's family?" and things of the sort. What captured Sasuke's attention were the inquiries about Kurushimi. The questions themselves didn't strike him as suspicious, but the facial expressions shown by the male were what caused Sasuke to feel apprehensive. They only made an appearance for short instances, an entity only an observant person such as Sasuke could possibly notice. Before he knew it, they had reached Kurushimi's house. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, forehead crinkled, at the stranger. _"He's not here for the reasons he gave..."_

The front door to the house creaked open and out stepped Kurushimi's mother with a curious stare. "Hello Kenshi, Akemi. Who's this?"

"Hi Mrs. Natsumi," Kenshi greeted with a short wave. "This man says he works in the same department as Mr. Toshio and needs to personally give him a message."

"Greetings Miss Natsumi," the newcomer said with a polite bow. "I'm very elated that these children decided to extend their gratitude to me! Now, do you by any chance know where Mister Toshio might be?"

Natsumi grinned and blushed in embarrassment. "Ah, well my husband left the house this morning. He didn't tell me where he was headed but-"

"Mom?" Kurushimi asked, taking a hesitant step outside the dwelling. He gasped at the sight of Kenshi and immediately halted, pulling the door closer to him and making it creak at the movement.

"Oh, you must be Kurushimi! Kenshi told me a little about you on our journey here!" the blond exclaimed. "Do you happen to know your father's whereabouts?"

"N-No. He never mentioned where he was going," Kurushimi stuttered, gripping the door as if his life depended on it.

"Oh, that's a shame," the stranger responded, his tone entirely different than before. This made everyone turn to stare at him with curiosity written in their features. The man smiled wickedly and closed his eyes, placing a hand under his chin in thought. "I guess I must take matters into my own hands. Don't think falsely, I did appreciate your help, but I have a task that must be completed, no matter what the cost." Ending on that note, the man slowly opened his eyes to reveal two swirling red orbs.

"Sh-Sharingan?!" Kenshi started, instinctively reaching for Akemi.

The sound of three bodies colliding with the ground anchored Kurushimi to his spot. He was too shocked to attempt any movement whatsoever. "W-What did you do to them?!" he shouted, fear and anxiety evident in his voice.

"Oh, they're fine... For now that is," he answered calmly, as if nothing weird had just occurred. "It's time to end this little deceiving act of mine I guess."

He lifted a hand to his head and grabbed a fistful of blond hair, leisurely removing the wig to reveal unkempt, matted, and long dark hair. The man lazily threw the fake hair aside and removed his robe, yawning out of boredom. "Kurushimi, was it?"

The boy's wobbling legs came out from under him, leading his body to completely fall out of the doorway. Trembling viciously, Kurushimi managed to push himself to his knees, hands planted in the dirt below. It was all he could do to prevent himself from falling face first into the earth. "Wh-Who are y-you?!"

"Oh, about that. It's quite easy to fool your friends ya know? A fake identification card, wig, and robe, that was all I needed." He stalked closer like a carnivore to its helpless prey.

Kurushimi's shudders increased with every inch the man came nearer to his petrified form. The teen gasped in awe as the man halted directly in front of him. "That crest? It's..."

"Ah, Uchiha. My name is Hideki Uchiha," the dark-haired male explained. "My little brother, Jirou, was killed a bit more than a year and a half ago."

"What do you want from my dad?" the boy questioned. Sasuke perceived from the sound of his choked voice that he was on the verge of letting tears spill from his purple eyes.

Hideki roared with laughter, a malicious smile coming to take its place shortly after. "What I will learn from him is how he obtained Jirou's eyes. My main goal... is to take them back. Now explain to me," he began eerily while crouching next to the teen, "why are your bangs so long?"

"Pl-Please..." Kurushimi begged, beginning to sob.

The Uchiha launched his hand into Kurushimi's hair and dragged him to his feet. With the free hand, Hideki gripped the male's bangs and not so gently ripped them away from his eyes. He gasped, utterly shocked at the sight. "You... WHAT DID YOU DO TO JIROU'S EYES?!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't-!"

The Uchiha, overcome with immense fury and grief howled as he propelled Kurushimi backwards into the walls of the family's abode, leaving a massive dent in the area he collided with. As the boy hollered in pain, Hideki unceremoniously tossed him to the ground behind him and stared at the now marred home. His breathing became erratic, tension building in his broad shoulders.

The last thing Kurushimi witnessed before falling unconscious was his house being engulfed in flames.

Sasuke stood still and silent throughout the entire ordeal. After all, even if he reacted it wouldn't alter anything. This time he was fully prepared for a change of scenery. The environment morphed into an area surrounded by trees and bushes, little sunlight peeking through the shallow openings caused by the numerous leaves and branches.

"Where are we? What happened?" Akemi asked groggily.

"What the-?!" Kenshi exclaimed in surprise. "Why am I tied up?!" He surveyed the others and noticed that their hands and feet were also tied. The agitated teen started to struggle with his bonds in order to escape.

"Is everyone okay?" a clueless Natsumi questioned, worried for the children's safety.

"I'm fine," answered Akemi. "Although, I do feel strangely weak."

"So do I, my chakra level feels quite low" Kenshi chimed in. He sighed with great frustration and tilted his head to the side, shocked to catch sight of another restrained body. "Kurushimi! Hey, you okay?"

A muffled sob escaped the boy's lips as he rolled over to face his three captured companions.

"Oh my goodness! Kurushimi, what happened sweetheart?!" yelled his anxious mother. She desperately attempted to rip free of her confines to no avail.

"H-He burned it down... Our house!" the disheartened boy exclaimed. He twitched a handful of times as his back throbbed with now moderate pain from being slammed into the hard wall earlier. "I... I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry."

"Kurushimi..." whispered Kenshi, disheartened by his friend's claim.

All heads twisted towards the larger part of the clearing when the sound of shuffling leaves met their ears. It consistently grew louder and closer over time, eventually reaching the brush surrounding the open area.

Hideki's voice rang throughout the air, malice dripping off his tongue. "Keep moving!" He lifted his foot and slammed it against the beaten and battered man's spine, forcing him to topple out of the bushes and land in the grassy clearing.

"Toshio?" Natsumi breathed in bewilderment, staring at her wounded husband with great concern.

"Ah, all the garbage has finally been placed in the dump," Hideki stated, once again sending his toes flying into the greying man's rib cage.

Toshio rolled to a stop and gritted his teeth, attempting to break free of the rope restraining his arms. "L-Let them go! They have nothing to do with this!"

"Really? Is that so?" Hideki questioned sarcastically. The Uchiha stalked towards Kurushimi and cut the restraints on his legs using a short sword. He unceremoniously gripped the teen's neck and dragged him to the middle of the clearing where everyone could witness what would occur next. "Then explain to me what these are!" Hideki screeched, pulling Kurushimi's bangs aside.

A bewildered silence filled the air for a short moment before Kenshi spoke.

"I thought those were only a myth," Kenshi pondered aloud.

"Kurushimi?" Akemi was at a total loss for words.

"How? What...?" Natsumi inquired, unsure of the peculiar situation herself.

"Ask this thief!" Hideki ordered, pointing an accusing finger at Toshio. "He stole my brother's Sharingan and turned them into these! They're not even the real thing! They're fakes that don't even work!" The Uchiha rummaged through a travel bag on his back and retrieved a notebook, the one Sasuke had observed Toshio scribbling in Kurushimi's results. "I've read the reports. Every test of these fake Rinnegan have failed! You tainted Jirou's eyes for no reason!" he bellowed with fury, shaking Kurushimi around as he spoke.

"Please! They didn't have anything to do with this!" Toshio pleaded desperately.

"Then why does your weakling of a son possess them?!"

Toshio gritted his teeth, feeling both rage and grief. He opened his tired eyes to faces looking to him for an explanation. Natsumi was the most confused and shocked of all, devastation evident in her features. "I... I wanted to prove to the village that I wasn't a useless coward. In order to do this, I took a dead Uchiha's Sharingan."

"Stole!" Hideki interrupted vigilantly, Kurushimi squeaking at the man's painful grasp on his messy dark hair.

"Yes, I STOLE them," Toshio admitted. "I experimented on them and I performed a transplant in hopes of endowing Kurushimi with the eyes. But, as he said, the tests failed... every single one of them, failed..." Toshio gritted his teeth and rested his forehead in the grass, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. "Natsumi, I'm sorry for completely neglecting you. I've failed at being a husband entirely. Kenshi and Akemi, I apologize for getting you wrapped up in this mess as well. Kurushimi, I'm so sorry... I made you go through such painful experiences, and for nothing. I forced you to go into solitude and avoid Kenshi and your other friends. I had you lie to your own mother. I'm so so sorry. Everyone, please forgive me..."

"Dad," Kurushimi began. He was immediately interrupted as Hideki shoved his face into the dirt below, eliciting a grunt of pain from the teen.

"That was all very touching, but I still have business to take care of," Hideki growled, releasing his hold on Kurushimi and stalking towards the greying scientist. "You," he started, crouching, "how did you turn my brother's eyes into fakes like that?"

"I conducted a long series of experiments, but even I don't quite remember what all they included considering there were so many. I burned every note I had concerning them," Toshio explained hurriedly, hopeful that they would be released.

Hideki snorted contemptuously. "Oh, what a pity. You see, I believe it's time for me to reveal something about myself." The vengeance driven Uchiha smirked venomously. "When I take a hostage, I'm never intent on letting them live." An instant later he was right beside Natsumi, wasting no time in dragging the woman to the middle of the clearing where everyone could view what was about to occur.

"No! No! Please, I promise I wasn't lying! STOP!" Toshio begged, desperately struggling against his restraints.

"Any last words?" Hideki questioned as he forced the woman up to her knees.

Tears rolled down Natsumi's cheeks as it hit her what was happening. "I... I love you all," she sobbed. "And, Toshio, I forgive you..."

"PLEASE!"

The three teens were all frozen in place, their mouths gaping in horror at the scene.

All were paralyzed with fear as Hideki's sword came down. Kurushimi urged a cry to release from his throat, but anything he attempted to shout refused to be made audible. His heart skipped a beat as the last breath his mother drew was engraved in his memory forever, haunting and tormenting his conscience. He heard a mixture of anguished yells and grieving sobs erupt from the restrained people beside him, but all Kurushimi heard were Natsumi's last words, replaying over and over in his head. He only came back to his senses, still in utter shock, when Hideki dragged Akemi to the middle of the clearing and forced her to sit in the same position as Natsumi.

"No! Let go of her now! Take me instead! Please! Stop! Akemi!" Kenshi pleaded. When the Uchiha did not cease his movements, the young swordsman began to impetuously scream curses at the man, struggling with all his might against the ropes restraining his hands and feet. It was no use, whatever Hideki had done while they were unconscious weakened them too much.

"Not a child! Have mercy!" Toshio chimed in. Tears continuously cascaded down his cheeks at the sight of his slain wife's lifeless form. "Kill me instead! Please! Leave the children alone! I beg of you!"

"Any last words?" the Uchiha repeated, acting as if his ears fell deaf to the males' cries.

"Kenshi... I love you," Akemi admitted after an agonizing moment, her heart undoubtedly shattering into millions of pieces.

Hideki raised his sword.

"AKEMI!"

Kurushimi observed with sheer terror as the girl's body began to topple over, a trickle of blood sliding through the lips that were fitted into a smile. Her limp form slowly fell to land beside Natsumi's lifeless body, Kenshi screaming in fury and terror at the top of his lungs.

"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" the distraught teen proclaimed.

Hideki snorted, a malign smirk playing on his lips afterwards. "Don't worry kid, I'll put an end to that wishful thinking of yours soon. Hm, I guess you're next old man. After I'm done with you this yelling brat is next. I have unfinished business with Kurushimi."

Toshio didn't protest as he was dragged into the open area, both teens' wide eyes glued to him. "Please let them live. Please... Just take the eyes from my son and go," Toshio pleaded, tears scattered across his cheeks.

"Not gonna happen," Hideki responded bluntly. "I'll allow you some last words though."

The scientist hesitated to peer at the two traumatized boys, guilt and sorrow clouding his mind. "I-I'm so sorry... I was so selfish. None of this would have happened if I wasn't so concerned with my image! K-Kurushimi... I love you. Thank you for putting up with such a terrible father like me."

"D-Dad," Kurushimi voiced. Not a single tear had fallen from the boy's eyes thus far. Immense shock prohibited him from letting the tears flow; the feeling had yet to sink in. Even as the sword met his father's flesh they still refused to leave his purple eyes.

Sasuke clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. The scene reminded him all too much of the night his clan and family were slaughtered. He knew very well the reasons his brother Itachi performed the action, but it didn't mean the truly horrific images were erased from his memory.

Suddenly, Kenshi broke free of his confinements and threw a kunai knife in Kurushimi's direction, severing the ropes that prevented him from moving.

"What?! How?!" Hideki screeched in astonishment.

Kenshi threw a shuriken at the man with lightning speed. The weapon embedded itself into the Uchiha's leg and rendered him defenseless for a split second, in which the teenage swordsman used the opportunity to jump on the Uchiha's back and draw his blade. "Kurushimi, run! I'll hold him off!"

"But-!"

"GO!"

Kurushimi hesitantly lifted himself from the earth and trudged away, stealing one last glance over his shoulder before breaking out into a run.

Not long after, Kenshi was thrown into a tree and nearly knocked unconscious upon impact.

"I'll come back for you later!" Hideki growled, ripping the shuriken out of his flesh with a grunt of pain. He then jogged with a limp in the direction where Kurushimi sped off.

Sasuke was about to follow when a cough from Kenshi stopped him in his tracks.

"I'm not letting you murder anyone else close to me," the teen declared, panting and resting his back against the tree for support. He caught his breath and took a step forward, intent on pursuing the Uchiha and Kurushimi.

"K-Kenshi..."

The blond's eyes widened to the point it hurt. He heard the voice again and immediately pivoted on his heel, rushing towards the three bodies in the middle of the clearing. Kenshi crouched and gently gripped Akemi's body, cradling her head against his torso. "Akemi, you're alive," he stated in disbelief.

The girl managed a weak smile. "Kenshi, I need to tell you something."

Tears cascaded down Kenshi's cheeks as he looked down at her. "We have to get you to a doctor. You can tell me then."

"No... Kenshi, there's no time," breathed Akemi. "I have to tell you..."

"Hey, stay with me!"

"I wanted to tell you," Akemi began, her eyelids beginning to shut, "thank you for caring about me and spending your time with me."

"No..."

"Kenshi, I love you," Akemi whispered, her form falling limp in his hands.

"Akemi?" Kenshi questioned, fat wet droplets hitting her face. "Akemi, please. Don't leave me," he begged, attempting to stifle his sobs.

For the next five or so minutes, Sasuke watched as Kenshi held Akemi's body, her blood covering his trembling hands. He perceived the immense pain Kenshi was struggling with at that moment. It was written all over his contorted and tear-stained features. He heard the boy's multiple apologies of "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" and swallowed. This was what his enemies were talking about constantly, the day they lost everything. As Sasuke continued to stare at the scene unfolding before him, worry once again controlled his mind. _"Sakura," _he thought, heavily concerned with her safety suddenly. He couldn't help but imagine himself in Kenshi's place, and Sakura in Akemi's. What if that was him holding the pink-haired woman's body instead? _"Stop," _he order himself silently. Thoughts like that wouldn't get him anywhere.

Kenshi finally gained the resolve to lift his head and suppress his tears. It was a much more difficult task to gently set her head down and stand up, turning away from his beloved's lifeless body. The swordsman wiped the lingering tears away, fists balled and teeth gritted. "Hideki Uchiha, I will kill you with no remorse. You'll pay for what you've done. I'm not going to let you kill the last family have." Kenshi bolted away after declaring his impending vengeance, ignoring the throbbing pain in the back of his head.

Sasuke wasn't surprised in the slightest as the scene shifted, this time leaving him standing inside Toshio's lab. It appeared that many items in the room had been rearranged, including the container of light blue liquid with traces of orange, Sasuke noted. It was now placed on top of a large cupboard in the corner of the spacious area. A handful of labels marked some items as well, reading "move later", the blue liquid without the orange tinge being one of these.

The back door burst open and in came a distraught Kurushimi. He sauntered to the nearest counter and leaned against the edge for support, panting harshly. Suddenly, the door Kurushimi entered through was kicked off its hinges and across the room, scaring the dark-haired teen halfway to the moon.

"You!" growled a furious Hideki.

Kurushimi took a shaky step backwards, his lip quivering in terror.

"I'll kill you!" exclaimed a newcomer.

Hideki grunted in annoyance and drew his sword while swirling around, blocking Kenshi's slash at the last possible second. The two dueled in a ferocious battle, breaking glass cases and knocking over tables and chairs. Kurushimi was anchored to his spot, wondering how in the world his friend managed to gain the will to fight in this situation. He gripped the counter as if it was the only thing keeping him alive. His heart dropped when Kenshi's face was slashed with Hideki's sword, giving him the scar he possessed in real time, and flung into the cupboard seated in the room's corner. The giant wooden object teetered for a moment before steadying, except the container filled with blue and orange liquid toppled off and shattered when it made contact with the young swordsman's body.

Kurushimi's eyes bulged at the sight and a cold shiver ran down his spine at his friend's cry of agony before his body fell limp on the hard floor. As Hideki then proceeded to stalk towards him, Kurushimi stumbled backwards, holding his hands out protectively in front of himself. "Please, don't kill me! I swear I didn't know!"

"Why do you have them then?!" the Uchiha screeched, his red eyes blazing in fury. He continued to rapidly approach the sixteen-year-old boy.

Kurushimi yelped in fear and persisted in walking backwards, tears finally beginning to spill from his purple eyes. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I never had a choice! Please don't hurt me!"

The man halted his advance. "Toshio gave them to you though. He experimented on my brother's eyes and turned them into useless fakes!"

The boy stopped, shivering uncontrollably. Anger surged through him. "You already killed my father! You killed my mother and friend for no reason! You got what you wanted didn't you?!" he finished, gazing at Kenshi struggling to get up in the corner.

Hideki cackled maliciously and raised his bloody sword, slowly stalking towards Kurushimi once more. "I killed Toshio, yes. I also murdered innocent people in front of him to make the worthless man suffer before I killed him. I forced him to see what his careless actions caused. Now boy, it's your turn. What I really want is Jirou's eyes! Now prepare to join the rest!"

He stumbled backwards again and watched in horror as the Uchiha slashed with his sword. "NO!" Kurushimi fell to the ground, barely dodging the strike. The teen heard glass shattering and opened his eyes only to see liquid falling from the counter above. He didn't move as it made contact with his purple eyes. All Kurushimi saw before pain surged through his head was light blue.

Screams rattled Sasuke's eardrums as he peered at Kurushimi's form writhing on the ground in agony.

Hideki clicked his tongue with irritation, rotating the bloody sword in his hand. "You are definitely the weakest person I've ever crossed paths with. So pitiful. Don't worry though, it'll all be over in just a second." The Uchiha raised the weapon again, preparing to slay the defenseless boy.

"Not as long as I have something to say about it!"

"Huh?"Hideki peered over his shoulder and gasped in bewilderment. "What the-?!"

He was interrupted by a knee slamming into his chest, the impact sending him sailing through the nearest wall. Hideki rolled across the earth and coughed up blood after skidding to a stop. The attacker appeared to his side and the Uchiha reeled backwards in shock. "What are you?!"

Kenshi's breath hitched for a fleeting moment. He slowly brought his hands into view and gasped as he caught sight of the blue glow surrounding his body. The swordsman traced the wound on his face and realized it was still there, except the pain he felt was like a bee sting at most. "I-I don't know... but I'm not gonna let this power go to waste!" He shot forward and appeared behind the Uchiha in the blink of an eye. Hideki attempted to turn his body in order to block, but instead he was met with a fist to the face.

Hideki held his bloody and broken nose as he arose. "I have no idea what's going on. I'll just get the other kid and go!" he concluded aloud. The wounded and bewildered Uchiha made a beeline for the gaping hole in the deceased Toshio's lab. A gasp erupted from his throat as he blinked and Kenshi was blocking his path the next instant. "You're really getting on my nerves kid!"

Kenshi's lips separated, a defensive reply ready to escape them when-

"Kenshi, move aside."

The teen immediately swiveled around at the familiar voice, inhaling sharply. "K-Kurushimi..." He hesitantly moved aside, baffled that his friend was able to stand, or even move for that matter. Another gasp left his lips as he stole a glimpse of his friend's face.

A confused and cautious expression controlled Hideki's features when he also caught sight of the teen's face. "You two aren't human!"

A strong gust of wind blew across the terrain, momentarily removing Kurushimi's jet black bangs from his eyes. They were no longer just the color of the Rinnegan. The new appearance of black pupils and ring separating the Rinnegan purple and Chidori blue gave off an ominous aura. "You've caused enough suffering. After today you won't be causing any more pain."

"Kurushimi, you-" the swordsman began.

"Let's end this right now Kenshi," he interrupted. It was almost as if the boy were an entirely different person.

"Ha, even with these new powers of yours you still can't-! Wh-What the heck?!" Hideki hollered suddenly. He peered down at his feet and froze at the realization. Light blue solid objects had begun to enclose his feet and anchor the Uchiha to the ground.

"Kenshi, go," Kurushimi ordered icily calm.

The blond male hesitated for a moment, looking his friend in the new strange eye, and returned his attention to the now restrained Hideki. Kenshi growled in fury, the horrendous images of Akemi's death fresh in his mind. It didn't take him more than half a second to begin taking his revenge on the criminal Uchiha.

Sasuke's gaze was locked onto the one-sided "battle" between Kenshi and his former clan member. He remained unfazed even as he watched Kenshi's brutal attacks against the defenseless man. Kurushimi remained still as well, his concentration focused on keeping the Uchiha in his place and leaving him vulnerable to any strikes. After all, the two boys were intent on returning the favor to Hideki and making him suffer an agonizing death at their hands. The gruesome beating continued for many minutes, until the teens' opponent was no longer able to stay on his two feet. He collapsed and Kurushimi let the light blue restraints disappear from their place at his feet and stalked towards him, giving the vengeful Kenshi a signal to cease his assault.

"Ha, pitiful," Kurushimi mocked, using Hideki's words from earlier. He reached the fallen and battered man, looking down on his bloody and broken form. "You deserve to suffer so much more," Kurushimi growled through gritted teeth. "I can't resist the urge to kill you right now though." He raised his hand, thousands of thin needle-like shards, almost like senbon, materializing out of thin air. "Any last words?" he mocked once more, his face that of a maniac.

Hideki only grunted, biting his lower lip in frustration and slamming his eyelids shut, preparing for what was soon to occur. He knew there was absolutely no possible way he could escape his impending fate.

Kenshi couldn't bear to glance at Kurushimi when the boy lowered his hand and the hundreds of slim shards penetrated Hideki's body. After all was said and done, even Sasuke felt mildly nauseous at the sight of the other Uchiha's mangled body and had to avert his mismatched eyes to the side or ground. He was grateful when the scene changed so he no longer had to be cautious about where his eyes were directed. When he carefully peered at his surroundings, Sasuke recognized the area as the one where Kurushimi's parents and Akemi had previously been murdered. The bodies were still lying in their original positions, Kenshi and Kurushimi standing over them, rage and grief radiating off of their forms.

Kenshi balled his fists and dropped to the earth, tears rolling down his cheeks continuously. "I could have broken the ropes sooner if I had tried harder! I'm so sorry..."

"Get up Kenshi," Kurushimi ordered, his head lowered.

The swordsman's fury heightened to new levels at the command. He angrily tilted his head towards Kurushimi and shouted, "How can you stand there and not shed a tear?! How can you act like what's happened is nothing?! How-?!" Kenshi froze, speechless.

Fat tears fell from Kurushimi's hidden eyes. The teen was desperately attempting to stifle the resounding sobs erupting from his lips. "There's n-no use in you crying about it. I was the u-useless one. You saved us both. I p-promise I'll never be as defenseless as this ever again." The disgruntled male wiped the tears off his cheeks and stared at the young swordsman with a serious expression. "Kenshi, I need your help with something."

"My help?"

"I'm gonna kill every Uchiha. They're all criminals and deserve the same fate is Hideki," he explained, viciously spitting out the dead man's name. "We need to prevent this from happening again, by ending them all! The Uchiha clan deserves to suffer! We'll kill them all, and get revenge for my parents and Akemi in the process!"

Kenshi dried his face and slowly stood up, turning his attention to the pile of bodies. "You're right. They do deserve to suffer the same fate. They only breed criminals like him! We'll do it together... We'll annihilate the Uchiha clan until there's none of them left!" he vowed.

_"No!"_

Sasuke's eyes widened a smidgen and he peered over both shoulders after hearing the strange and eerie call.

_"Stop!"_

This time the distraught pleading increased in volume. The voice sounded vaguely familiar in the Uchiha's ears, but it was proven difficult to decipher because of its distorted nature.

When Sasuke returned his attention to the sight in front of him, he was surprised to notice the environment beginning to warp and fade away. He hastily averted his eyes downward to his hands and saw that they also were starting to twist and vanish. In fact, his whole body was effected by the sudden happening. Everything surrounding him became almost nonexistent soon afterwards and a strange sensation overtook the Uchiha.

* * *

"Agh!" Kurushimi shouted in great agony, his vision blurry and head pounding intensely. His breathing became very erratic as he finally managed to break out of the visions. Kenshi stood stock still next to him, staring straight ahead with a horrified expression as if he were still witnessing the terrifying memories. Sasuke's only reliance for support were the chains and stakes restraining him. If not for his confinements he would have fallen face first into the hard rock beneath him; however, he couldn't help but wince at the tightness of the chakra chains around his wrists, especially with the pressure applied by them when he bent forward too far.

"It... backfired?!" Kurushimi exclaimed in complete disbelief, regaining his composure. "No... No... No! I need more power!" He immediately turned and ran as fast as he possibly could towards the exit.

Sasuke finally caught his breath and wits, leading him to sit up and set his gaze on the still stunned Kenshi, waiting to see if the man could gain the courage to move. His lips separated as a single tear could be seen rolling down the swordsman's scarred cheek. Even more shocking was how the male collapsed to his hands and knees, sobbing uncontrollably. His position on the ground made it appear like a deep bow of... apology.

"I-I couldn't protect her," Kenshi cried into his arms, voice muffled. "I'm s-so sorry Akemi."

Sasuke's frown deepened, his heavy lids lowering. The heart-wrenching feeling of having the ones you love and care about killed was no foreign emotion to Sasuke Uchiha.

* * *

_"Why?! Why?! WHY?!" _Kurushimi repeated over and over in his head. He cupped his hands and dipped them into the fountain full of blue liquid, quickly throwing it on his multicolored orbs. The throbbing residing in his cranium only increased, leading the dark-haired man to hiss and curse. _"How?! Why did that happen?!" _He carefully gripped the edge of the fountain and felt along as he cautiously traveled to the opposite side where the black substance swirled along with the light blue one. "I have to. I can't wait any longer. While I still feel the rush of power that just gave me, I'll use this on Sasuke. Tch, if he hasn't lost all hope yet, this will be sure to do the trick," Kurushimi finished, managing a strained, malicious smirk.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Some things have still yet to be revealed. I wanted to make this longer but it's already over 12,500 words so I'll leave it off here for right now. I'll get the next chapter started and finished as soon as time permits me. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the support! Please review! And once again, thank you for being patient with me!


End file.
